Mira Costa Starts Out No. 1 in Nation, Will It Be Blessing or Burden? : Volleyball: The Mustangs’ top setter, Canyon Ceman, says it’s a compliment and the team deserves it.

One is both a positive and a negative number at Mira Costa High School.

One happens to be Mira Costa’s national ranking in boys volleyball, courtesy of USA Today.

Canyon Ceman, Mira Costa’s highly recruited setter, says the top spot is one the Mustangs deserve. Ceman is studying advanced-placement calculus this term and has a 4.0 grade-point average, so he knows his numbers.

“You can look at a No. 1 ranking as either a burden or a compliment,” Ceman said. “I consider it a compliment. If your goal is to be No. 1 by the end of the season, then it’s nice to start out the year there.”

One is also the number of games Mira Costa lost last season--and a number it hopes to avoid this time around.

The Mustangs went 21-1 last year, losing only to an inspired Corona del Mar team in the Southern Section 4-A championship match.

“That game was a heartbreak for us,” said Pat Ivie, Mira Costa’s 6-foot-5 middle blocker. “We dedicated our entire off-season to making sure that there was no way that would happen again.”

Mira Costa Coach Mike Cook has a tradition of turning out top-notch volleyball teams. The Mustangs went 22-0 en route to the 4-A championship in 1984, and 21-1 in both 1987 and 1989.

Cook, who has won either Ocean or Bay League championships in all but one of his 10 years at the school, says this year’s team could be the best ever.

But he’s hedging his bets a little about the national ranking.

“They didn’t come and talk to me about it,” Cook said. “But I’m not sandbagging. We have really quality people, and if they play to their potential, we deserve the ranking.”

Leading the way for Mira Costa this season are three returning starters:

Ivie, who has good volleyball genes. His brother, Bryan, a 1987 Mira Costa graduate, is at USC and will play volleyball for the United States in the 1992 Olympic Games at Barcelona.

Despite his size, Ivie moves well in the back row and can go to the floor for digs. He also owns a devastating jump serve. In Mira Costa’s 15-1, 15-8, 15-8 season-opening victory over Loyola last Friday, Ivie served for 12 points, including five aces.

“Jump serves are just as good as kills,” Cook said. “Only they come from the service line.”

David Swatik, a 6-4 outside hitter who was a first-team All-CIF choice and most valuable player in the Ocean League last season.

Swatik, a ferocious but consistent spiker, comes after opposing teams left-handed. He forces them into different blocking and digging patterns, and usually by the time they come up with a solution, it’s too late.

“David is the strongest hitter in our league, without a doubt,” Cook said. “For us, his role is to pass the ball and put it away. Pass and bang.”

The cool-handed Ceman, a 6-4 setter who may be the best of the bunch.

Ceman calls verbal signals to his teammates during play and sets up plays with hand signals before the serve. His height also makes him a plus on the front row as a hitter.

“Canyon is the quarterback of our team,” Cook said. “That 4.0 mind that he’s got really helps out. He doesn’t do a lot of dumb stuff.”

Mira Costa also has 6-7 Mike Ashenfelter, a teammate of Ceman’s on the Mustang basketball team, to help out as a middle blocker and power server.

Mark Shoptaw, a 6-3 junior, mans the other outside hitter position. He’s Mira Costa’s “chatter man,” keeping the Mustangs alive with positive talk, passing and defense. Cook expects Shoptaw to be a major-college prospect next year.

The only small position for Mira Costa is the other setter. Seniors Brian Thurston and Craig Beck, both under 6 feet, are battling for that spot. Reserve Frank Guernsey, a senior, gives the Mustangs some valuable defense on the back row.

“This team aspires to be able to call itself the best team Mira Costa has ever had,” Cook said. “But they’ve got to earn the wins to make that happen.”

Ivie takes that sentiment a step further.

“We want to be the best high school team that has ever played,” he said.

The Mustangs have the talent. Last summer, both Swatik and Ceman were invited to Norman, Okla., for the U.S. Olympic Festival. Olympic Festival teams are composed mostly of college starters, either freshmen or sophomores.

Ceman started for the West team and won a gold medal. Swatik, then 16 and one of the youngest athletes at the festival, earned a bronze medal as a starter on the North team.

“It was one of the best learning experiences of my life,” Swatik said. “Most of the college players didn’t like having a 16-year-old on the team. For the first week, I had no friends.”

But once the lanky left-hander proved his ability on the court with a few wicked spikes, the older players warmed up to him.

After returning from Oklahoma, Ceman and Swatik warmed up to the two-man beach volleyball scene. When they arrived, they found that Ivie had already earned his Class A rating in the California Beach Volleyball Assn.

Ceman and Swatik started the summer as B-rated players, but after winning a beach tournament together in Playa del Rey in mid-September, they improved to AA ratings.

An AAA amateur rating is the stepping stone to the lucrative world of professional two-man beach volleyball. Ceman and Swatik are only a rung away.

“The beach is great because it develops all the volleyball fundamentals,” Cook said. “Everyone has to be able to pass, spike, set, block and serve. With only two guys, you can’t hide anybody in the back row.”

Ceman and Swatik have been two-man teammates for several years now. Their skills, like those of the famed pro team of Tim Hovland and Mike Dodd, complement each other: Swatik is a big blocker, Ceman an accomplished defender.

“It pays to be a well-rounded player on the beach,” Ceman said. “If you’re not, you get served every time. That’s why most beach schools are more advanced fundamentally than the inland schools. You have to be able to do it all.”

The do-it-all trio of Ivie, Swatik and Ceman has made Mira Costa a one-stop dream for college recruiters. All three are being wooed by the major volleyball powerhouses--USC, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Stanford and Pepperdine.

All three have legitimate shots at making the 1996 Olympic team. They could also have professional careers, either in Europe or on the beach, with Ceman and Swatik likely to remain a two-man tandem after college.

But for now, the entire Mira Costa team is set on holding onto one No. 1 and erasing the other.

“We talk about it every day in practice,” Swatik said. “We want to achieve everyone’s expectations. We like the pressure. It brings everyone’s performance to another level.”

If there is a level higher than the top.