Girls’ Volleyball: Following in family footsteps

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Redondo, the defending Southern Section Division I-AA champion in girls’ volleyball, is an experienced team with several quality veterans, including senior setter Lauren Allen and senior outside hitter Megan Saraceno.

The Sea Hawks (6-2), at No. 41 in the latest Century Club national top 100 rankings put out by PrepVolleyball.com, are finding, however, that they also can count on 5-10 freshman libero Lara Dykstra.

Dykstra recently recorded a school-record 29 digs in Redondo’s five-game loss last week to defending Division IV state-champion Marymount, ranked No. 32 nationally. She followed that with 21 digs in a 25-13, 25-22, 19-25, 17-25, 9-15 loss to Santa Barbara, and then got 11 more in a 25-11, 25-18, 25-18 victory at South Torrance.

‘Her technique, in my opinion, is near flawless,’ Redondo Coach Tommy Chaffins said.

That should be of little surprise because Dykstra is the fourth of five siblings in a volleyball family. Former Redondo standout Joey Dykstra now plays for the USC men’s team, and current Sea Hawk senior outside hitter Devon Dykstra has committed to Colorado.

Each of Dykstra’s older siblings has excelled on the beach volleyball junior circuit, as does Lara, who is a double-A rated player who came within a victory of reaching the highest level, triple-A, in qualifying competition last summer.

She and Devon teamed to win the Amateur Athletic Union girls’ U17-U18 age group national championship earlier this year. Joey Dykstra teamed with Mark Van Zwieten of Pompano Beach, Fla. to win the silver medal at the FIVB U19 World Championships in France while still in high school in 2005. Oldest sister Jenna Dykstra teamed with former Mira Costa star and current USC setter Taylor Carico to win the AAU girls’ U19 national title in 2003.

‘Just from being around volleyball so much, from watching her siblings, she doesn’t play like a freshman at all,’ Chaffins said. ‘Really, the only way you might think she was a freshman is if you look at her, because of her baby face.’

- Lauren Peterson