The Times’ All-County High School Teams : VOLLEYBALL : The Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval : Sheward Shows He Is Equally Adept at Setting Up and Mopping Up

Drew Sheward’s way around a volleyball court, the manner in which he wipes sweat off the floor every two minutes or nags his teammates, reminds you of some of the greats. Alice from “The Brady Bunch” comes immediately to mind. Uncle Charley (“My Three Sons”) was a gamer.

If Sheward, a senior setter at Newport Harbor High School, is anything as a volleyball player, he’s a housekeeper. Adept at mopping up the mess made by a sweating teammate or a sliding team.

Sheward, The Times’ boys’ volleyball player of the year, prodded a Newport Harbor team--described as “mediocre” by its coach--into the Southern Section 4-A finals by sheer will and frenetic energy.

“We would have been nowhere without him,” Dan Glenn, Newport Harbor coach, said. “We would have been real average, maybe third place in league.

“He’s probably the fiercest competitor I’ve ever seen on the court. He’s an animal. He’s everywhere, doing everything. We won because he refused to let us lose.”

In Sheward’s four seasons as a varsity starter, Newport Harbor made two appearances in the final and won one championship. That came in 1987, with a team that featured outstanding talent such as John Alstrom (Stanford) and Hugh Foster (San Diego State).

This season’s team had Sheward, outside hitter Mike Curci and apparently no chance of making it back to the final.

“I don’t think people were scared of us the way they were last season,” Sheward said.

Sheward led the team to a 9-1 record in the Sea View League and the league co-championship. Down 0-2 in games to Woodbridge in the 4-A quarterfinals, Sheward clapped and shouted and, oh yeah, led Newport Harbor to three consecutive game victories and a trip to the semifinals.

There, against Marina, his team trailed, 1-2. He led them back to a 2-2 tie in games. A coin was flipped to choose sides for the fifth and deciding game. Newport Harbor won, and Sheward chose the north side of the court, the side on which the winner of each previous game had played.

“That’s just like him to notice something like that,” Glenn said. “Anything that’s going to give his team an advantage, even if its psychological as it was in that case. Another player doesn’t think to do that. Drew just does it.”

Newport Harbor won the game and the match, but it later lost to Loyola in the 4-A final.

Glenn believes Sheward is a younger version of Karch Kiraly, a member of the gold-medal winning 1984 U.S. Olympic team and generally recognized as the best volleyball player in the world. Like Kiraly, Sheward’s strength is his total game. He is not the best hitter or passer, but it’s his overall ability and his knack for making others around him better that set him apart.

Comparing him to Kiraly may be a bit much, but there are others willing to go that far.

“He’s completely awesome,” John Herman, Edison coach, said.

Sheward balks at the Kiraly comparison as he does at the suggestion that he may be the (ugh!) All-American boy. Sheward was an all-league middle linebacker and a captain of the football team. He was the starting point guard and a team captain in basketball. On the volleyball team, he was a team captain, co-player of the year with Curci in the Sea View League and the most valuable player of the Orange County all-star game.

“I take some ripping for it,” Sheward said. “I don’t think I’m an All-American boy. I just hate to lose. I just try to make everyone hate to lose as much as I do. I try to keep them in focus. Some people started calling me ‘Clapper’ because of the way I am on the court. But that’s just me.”

Off the court, Sheward carries no residual effects of his on-court demeanor.

“Drew has a unique quality, he never comes home and says, ‘I should have tried harder,’ ” Drew’s father, Terry, said. “He lets it all go during a game, and when the game is over it’s over. He has no regrets.”

And no equal during the 1988 season. Sheward will move on to USC to play.

“I’ll be the same player there,” he said.

Which means more mopping up, more shouting at teammates and more clapping. Oh, a setter’s work is never done.

ALL-COUNTY FIRST TEAM

MIDDLE BLOCKERS Brian Boone . . . Edison Brent Hilliard . . . Dana Hills Adam Keefe . . . Woodbridge

OUTSIDE HITTERS Mike Curci . . . Newport Harbor Sean Stafford . . . Laguna Beach

SETTER Drew Sheward . . . Newport Harbor SECOND TEAM

MIDDLE BLOCKER Doug Partis . . . Marina

OUTSIDE HITTERS Dwayne Cameron . . . Marina Mark Presho . . . Edison Jeff Smith . . . Woodbridge

SETTERS Ty Price . . . Corona del Mar Dave Buehring . . . Marina