SOUTHERN SECTION VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS : He Proves a Boone for Edison

It won’t be difficult to pick out Barry and Cheri Boone at the USC-UCLA men’s volleyball matches next season.

They will be the ones sitting next to each other wearing USC and UCLA sweat shirts.

They’re splitting their allegiances because one of their sons, Brian, is redshirting this season at UCLA, and the other, Aaron, a senior setter at Edison High School, has signed a letter of intent to play at USC.

“It’s going to be tough for them to root for USC and UCLA,” Aaron Boone said. “They’re going to buy sweat shirts from each school and they’ll switch off wearing them after each game. It’s kind of fun. I took a little ribbing from my brother for going to USC.”

Aaron Boone, 18, hopes to do something his brother didn’t when he played volleyball at Edison--lead the Chargers to the Southern Section 4-A championship.

Edison (16-1) plays Santa Barbara (14-2) in the semifinals tonight at 7:30 at Santa Barbara City College. The Chargers are the only Orange County team remaining in the tournament, which has had a county school reach every final since 1975.

Brian Boone, a middle hitter, taught the sport to his younger brother by peppering the ball back and forth in front of their house in Huntington Beach. He also convinced Aaron, who’s 6 feet 5, to play setter instead of middle hitter.

“I always wanted to be a hitter,” Aaron Boone said. “But Brian kept telling me there were a lot of hitters out there, but not many tall setters.”

Boone followed his older brother’s advice and became not only a setter, but one of the best at the high school level.

“I’ll put money on it,” Edison Coach Brian Rofer said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s the next U.S. national team setter. I just don’t think he has confidence that he can compete at that level yet.”

Playing at USC for the next few years will give him that confidence, Rofer said.

Boone will join a USC team that is rich in Orange County high school talent. Jason Perkins (Corona del Mar), Nick Becker (Mater Dei), Chris Knowles (Dana Hills) and Drew Sheward (Newport Harbor) helped the Trojans win the national title this season.

Alec Peters, a USC assistant coach who recruited Boone, said Boone will challenge for a starting spot next year.

“I don’t know if he will start, but he will compete,” Peters said, adding that Boone could start for most teams in the country.

“My feeling is he’s the best setter in high school right now,” Peters said. “That includes Canyon Ceman of Mira Costa and Lloy Ball (of Ft. Wayne, Ind.).”

Peters first saw Boone play during a Junior Olympic tournament last summer. Peters’ team beat Boone’s in the finals, but the coach was impressed with Boone.

“At the time, (USC Coach Jim) McLaughlin was convinced that Canyon Ceman (of Mira Costa) was the best setter,” Peters said. “I kept saying, ‘You have to go see Boone. You have to see this guy play.’ Finally, he went and saw Aaron play and we recruited him. I think Aaron will be setting the national team in five or six years.”

Rofer said it could be sooner.

“I played against some of the players on the (Olympic) gold-medal team,” said Rofer, a former standout at Fountain Valley and UCLA. “Aaron was concerned that he doesn’t put up a big enough block. I know a big block, and he puts up a big block. He has surprised himself that he can compete at that (national) level.

“He can compete right now at the college level. The only other player I’ve seen like that is (Mira Costa’s) David Swatik.”

Boone talks nonchalantly about his goals for the next four years. A national championship, All-American honors, a shot at the U.S. national team. It seems like no big deal to him.

Rofer describes Boone’s personality as “pretty docile” and his quiet approach is “a good complement to the rest of the team.”

The Chargers, especially middle blocker Karl Van Reusen, are known for intimidating opponents.

But not Boone. “On the court, I’m pretty quiet, unlike Karl and those guys,” he said. “I keep my cool because that’s what the setter’s supposed to do. The players look to me for composure.

“I don’t try to go after the other team. If I block the ball, I won’t yell in the other guy’s face. I just walk away and high-five my teammate. I’m not into the mental game. I leave that to Karl. He’s pretty good at that.”

But even Boone will make a crack now and then.

“Aaron made a mistake in one of our (early-season) tournament games,” Rofer said. “He knew his game wasn’t on and he was frustrated. When he went to the back row to serve, he lifted his shirt over his face and yelled something (unprintable).”

Still, Boone said Rofer, in his first year at Edison, has kept the Chargers loose and kept a handle on things this season.

“He’s good at controlling us,” Boone said. “We’ve got a lot of guys on this team who like to talk. Brian was a psychology major at UCLA and I think that helped him as a coach. He lets us be ourselves.”

The admiration is mutual.

“I can’t compare him (Boone) to anyone,” Rofer said. “There are a lot of excellent setters, but he has his own style that I haven’t seen before. Other coaches look at him, and they say it looks like he’s not quick to get to the ball. But he is.”

Rofer lets Boone call his own sets, a rarity at the high school level. Hitters usually tell the setter where to put the ball.

“We talk about the game plan before the game and if the opponent has a weak blocker, I’ll mention it to him,” Rofer said. “But once the game starts, he calls every set regardless of what the hitter says. He can overrule anyone. He’s done an exceptional job.”

Boone said he enjoys the extra responsibility.

“When you let the hitters call it, you get mixed feelings and that takes away from the team,” Boone said. “I have five great players around me. Guys like Jason Curry improved so much since the start of the year.”

Curry, along with Steve Snyder, Van Reusen, Daryl Ayers and sophomore Joe McCarthy make up one of the most balanced teams in the county.

It hasn’t always been that way, Boone said.

“Some of those guys feel left out,” he said. “But we can’t do it without them.

“At the beginning of the season everyone wanted so many sets. They wanted to be individuals instead of a team. They had to realize Karl was going to get most of the sets. It’s not a problem anymore. I think we’re the best team out there.”

Volleyball Notes

Aaron Boone was named to the Orange County coaches’ all-county team along with teammate Karl Van Reusen, Carter Reese of Corona del Mar, Dain Blanton of Laguna Beach, Dana Hills’ Jason Hinchman and Scott Seymour of Woodbridge. . . . Santa Barbara defeated Marina and Woodbridge to reach the semifinals. . . . Edison beat Santa Barbara, 15-7, in a one-game semifinal in the Tournament of Champions last month. . . . The Dons’ top player is David Fischer, a 6-3 middle blocker who averages 16 kills a game. . . . San Marcos will play Mira Costa in the other 4-A semifinal Tuesday at Redondo Union High School. Edison lost a five-game, three-hour match against Mira Costa in March. San Marcos defeated Huntington Beach, Loyola and Laguna Beach to reach the semifinals; Mira Costa beat Dos Pueblos and Newport Harbor. . . . The Southern Section 4-A finals are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Marina High School.