Anderson’s Experience Sets Up Things at Esperanza

The Esperanza High School girls’ volleyball team won 8 consecutive Empire League championships under Coach Dal Dessiker. In 1986, John Reid took over where Dessiker left off, guiding Esperanza to 2 more Empire League titles.

This year, the string appeared to be in jeopardy. Esperanza began the season with only 1 returning varsity player--setter Heidi Anderson.

“I felt like Gene Bartow out here taking over for (John) Wooden,” Reid said. “If you lose a game, everybody says, ‘What’s wrong?’ But we didn’t lose. And I attribute a lot of that to Heidi’s ability.”

Anderson is 5-feet 6-inches and “stretching,” she said. She is a quiet team captain who leads by example. This year Anderson, The Times’ athlete of the week, is leading a group of players with no previous varsity experience to another Empire League championship.

The Aztecs are ranked eighth in the Southern Section 4-A and have virtually sewn up the league title at 8-0 with victories last week over Cypress and Katella. Against Cypress, Anderson had 28 assists, 2 aces and 0 errors. She had 21 assists and 2 errors in the Katella victory.

Esperanza’s closest league challenger is Loara (6-2), which lost to the Aztecs earlier this year, 15-2, 15-1, 15-1. Esperanza is 11-1 overall, losing to El Toro in the first match of the season.

“This should have been a considerably down year,” Reid said. But Anderson, who dominates the service game and is averaging 20 assists, has given her teammates the confidence to make them champions.

Girls whose statistics were unimpressive as junior varsity players have jumped to averaging 10-12 kills a match as varsity players because of Anderson, Reid said.

“She is putting (the ball) in spots that makes (her teammates) capable of getting it past the blocks. The kills have improved because the balls are there consistently. An experienced player will make adjustments. A young player, without much experience, needs the ball in the same spot continually and that is what a good setter can do.”

Anderson was named to the Southern Section second team, was first-team all-league and most valuable player in the Empire League last year. This year, her teammates elected her captain--a role she has adopted, but quietly.

“She is not very vocal or loud, but she is me out there on the court,” Reid said. And she takes her responsibility seriously.

“It was hard coming in being the only returning varsity player,” she said. “Sometimes I get frustrated if the passes aren’t there or if we’re not into the game mentally. I just have to get out there and pump them up, encourage them to do better the next time, because a lot of times, they get down on themselves and they blow it again the next time.”

The fact that her teammates had all played together on a junior varsity team that placed first in the Empire League made things easier.

“They just had to adjust to my setting,” Anderson said.

Anderson started playing volleyball when she was 13 in a club program. She has participated in club programs as well as school volleyball ever since.

She didn’t choose to be a setter. “I knew I wasn’t going to be a big hitter because I was small,” she said. But she doesn’t envy the power hitters.

“I like setting. I started playing during the (1984) Olympics when Debbie Green was setting and it made me realize you didn’t need to be big to play volleyball,” Anderson said.

She wasn’t born with outstanding size, speed or jumping ability, but that hasn’t hindered her, Reid said.

“She is an average athlete with tremendous volleyball skills that she has developed. She has great volleyball hands, great setting skills,” Reid said.

Her goal is to win the state title. Last year, the Aztecs made it to the Southern Section quarterfinals where they lost to eventual state champion Irvine.

This year, Anderson and Esperanza are all set for a different ending.

TOP PERFORMERS

Los Alamitos freshman Tracy Fatone ran a school-record time of 18 minutes and 53 seconds Thursday to help the Griffins (10-0, 5-0) clinch the Empire League cross-country title for the second year in a row. The performance came in a 15-50 victory over Katella. Fatone broke the school record of 19:10 set by Brooke Mabe 3 weeks ago.

Sophomore Loraine Lau swept her singles sets by 6-0 scores to lead first-place Fullerton (13-1, 7-0) to a 10-8 victory over Sunny Hills Tuesday in Freeway League match. Lau is undefeated this year with 36 victories, 15 in league. Last year, she was ranked 22nd in Southern California in girls’ 12s.

Jenny Marques, who plays No. 1 singles for Laguna Hills, won the Pacific Coast League tennis championship at Laguna Beach Thursday with a 7-6, 5-7, 6-2 victory over teammate Brook Fleming (53-1). Marques ended the regular season 48-0.

Senior outside hitter Laurie Sawin had 32 kills to lead first-place Corona del Mar to a 11-15, 15-4, 7-15, 15-9, 15-2 victory over Sea View League rival Newport Harbor Tuesday.

San Clemente sophomore Terri Smythers won the individual girls’ South Coast League cross-country championships in 18:43 Friday at Irvine Park in Orange. Smythers is undefeated in league competition.

Heidi Anderson

Esperanza High School

Position: Volleyball setter

Height, Class: 5-6, Senior

Last Week: Anderson had 28 assists against Cypress and 21 assists against Katella to lead Esperanza to an 8-0 record in the Empire League.

Season: She averages 20 assists a game as team captain and only returning varsity player for the defending Empire League champions, ranked eighth in the Southern Section 4-A.