The Preps / Lonnie White : After Slow Start, Loyola Is Strong in Volleyball

In early March, the volleyball team at L.A. Loyola High School, the defending Southern Section 4-A champion, wasn’t one of Southern California’s best.

Loyola was simply looking for its first victory.

But first-year Coach Bill Sanchez Jr., who played for Loyola in 1978, did not panic after the team that was undefeated last season lost its first two matches. He stayed with his team’s disciplined style of play.

As a result, the Cubs won their next nine matches, including three in the 55-team W. A. Goodman Volleyball Tournament last Saturday, defeating Marina High of Huntington Beach in the championship match, 15-5.

“It just took a while for the players to have confidence in themselves and with the team,” Sanchez said. “They had to make a big adjustment, getting used to my style of play.”

In winning the tournament, Sanchez credits the Cubs’ conditioning.

“We knew that we were in as good of shape as any team there,” said Sanchez, whose father Bill Sr., coaches the Cubs’ golf team. “We just played with our same real conservative style and stopped making the same mistakes we were making earlier in the season. We just got stronger as the day went on.”

Loyola (9-2) opened the tournament by defeating Santa Monica, 15-5, then defeated Brentwood, 15-11, and El Toro, 15-3, in the semifinals.

At the beginning of the season, Santa Monica defeated Loyola in a four-game match.

“They really took it to us when we played them early in the year,” Sanchez said. “We had problems with their complex offense, but this last time, we were able to keep them under control.”

The team looks to 6-foot-3 outside hitter Jimmy Klein as their leader, Sanchez said.

“We play as well as he plays and he has been on a tear the last four or five games,” Sanchez said.

Klein, who was voted most valuable player in the tournament, will attend Stanford next fall, where he plans to play both football and volleyball. He was an All-Southern Section defensive back in football last fall.

“He has the physical tools and the determination to do both in college,” Sanchez said of Klein, the son of Bob Klein, former USC player who later played with the Rams and San Diego Chargers.

Chris Underwood, a 6-4 senior middle blocker, is another key player for Loyola.

“Chris has such a great natural fast arm swing that makes him so great,” said Sanchez about Underwood, who averages six blocks a match. “He is our most improved player. (He) will make a perfect project in college. USC and Santa Barbara have shown interest in him.”

Bret Banachowski, son of UCLA women’s volleyball Coach Andy Banachowski, is Loyola’s most versatile player.

The 6-1 senior has a .420 hitting percentage and is averaging three blocks a game.

“He can play anywhere on the floor and has shown a lot of maturity for us this season,” Sanchez said.

Other key players are outside hitter Andrew Tims, and setters Joe Burkhardt and Scott Kelly.

Next for Loyola is a tournament at Redondo Union against a field that will include top-rated Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, the only other team that has defeated Loyola.

Imagine being the defending state champion and the leading runner in the nation at 400 meters, and still having to take second billing in a race.

For Angela Rolfe of L.A. Dorsey High School, that is exactly what happened last Saturday at the Mt. San Antonio Relays.

Rolfe, who last season had the fourth-fastest time in the nation while winning the state 400 championship, had to run in the unseeded portion of her specialty. Organizers said that she ran in that section because the seeded section was full.

Without any serious competition, Rolfe cruised to victory in a national-leading time of 54.39 seconds, finishing more than three seconds ahead of the second-place runner.

Even so, Rolfe’s mark did not last long, as Angela Burnham of Oxnard Rio Mesa won the seeded portion of the race in 54.09.

Burnham rallied in the last 100 meters, passing Cheryl Allen of Edmonton, Canada, who finished second in 54.40.

The first six runners in the seeded race ran faster than the second-place finisher in Rolfe’s race.

Rolfe, who has a career best of 54.17, will have to wait until the state meet for quality competition, headed by Roslyn Mack of Mountain View St. Francis, who has a season best of 55.79.

Although Burnham won the 400 meters at Mt. SAC, she still does not like running it.

“I don’t think anyone likes to run the quarter (mile),” Burnham said. “I just try to key in on people in my race who run the 400 all of the time.”

The UCLA-bound Burnham realizes that she will have quarter-miler training in college under Coach Bob Kersee.

“I know that he trains all of his athletes for the 400 anyway,” Burnham said. “That will be no problem for me.”

Prep Notes

The KDAY Community Cage Classic all-star basketball doubleheader will be played Friday night at Cal State Dominguez Hills, with the girls’ game starting at 6:30 and the boys’ at 8:30.

Top players on the boys’ West team will be Kent Bennett of L.A. Manual Arts and Danny Griffin of L.A. Crenshaw. Tyrone Phillips of L.A. Fremont and Brian Camper of Lakewood will lead the East squad.

The girls’ West team will be led by Valarie Agee of Palisades. Kim Jeremiah of Fremont will head the East team.