HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : Poway Tries to Live Up to Ranking

The Poway girls’ volleyball team may have a long way to go to live up to its No. 2 state preseason ranking in Volleyball Monthly, Coach Lisa Reis said, but after two undefeated seasons and five San Diego Section titles in the past six years, the Titans again should be one of the powerhouses in the county.

Torrey Pines, which has finished second to Poway the past two years, is ranked No. 5 by the magazine.

“We have a ways to go to deserve the ranking,” Reis said. “It’s all there, it’s just a matter of getting it together. We’ve been working really hard every day. The girls have to keep really focused.”

Poway not only lost five of its eight starters, but Reis said the characteristics of this year’s team are much different.

“Last year the girls weren’t just volleyball players. They were three-sport girls that were small and really athletic,” Reis said. “This year, it’s very different. We’re big, five girls taller than 5-11 so we have a different style of play. Last year we were very strong at ball control and defense. We’ll be pretty strong at the net because we’re big. We’ve lost some really good players.”

Poway has two key senior starters returning in outside hitter Heather Collins and middle blocker Heather Burke. Burke’s twin sister, Amy, also a middle blocker, also should make a significant contribution.

Shana Purvis, a senior transfer from Bonita Vista, will take Amy Boyer’s place at setter. Boyer, a three-year starter who graduated, was one of Poway’s leading players.

“Shana is very talented and a great athlete,” Reis said. “She gives a 150% effort at all times and never lets up.”

For the first time, Reis will start two freshmen. She said there’s usually one freshman in the lineup and possibly two on the team, but this year there are three on the team.

“I figure I’m losing so many seniors that I better start them early,” Reis said. “We’re going to be really young next year.”

The San Marcos and Bishop’s field hockey teams had a frustrating time Friday night. San Marcos finally won the game, 1-0, in sudden death after tying 0-0 in regulation, 2-2 in overtime, 2-2 in strokes then 2-2 in second round of strokes.

Senior Kasey Cooper scored the winning goal for San Marcos (1-1).

“We always have close games with Bishop’s,” San Marcos Coach Lynne McCarthy said. “We would have liked to have scored but nobody could score.

“We’d rather do it now instead of later in the season.”

The Lincoln football team (0-3) has not lost three consecutive games since 1974, Coach Vic Player’s first season at the school. That year the Hornets finished 2-7.

Lincoln opened the season with a 47-13 loss to Honolulu St. Louis in Hawaii Aug. 26. Canyon Country High School (Southern Section) defeated St. Louis, 40-0, last week to break St. Louis’ 55-game winning streak.

Patrick Henry did not hire an athletic director to replace Chris Miller, former athletic director and football coach, until just a week before classes began, but newly appointed John Ferguson said he has had no trouble sliding into the position since most of the fall planning was completed.

“A few coaches had talked to me about applying for the position, and I was thinking about it,” Ferguson said. “A week before school started I was at the school and an administrator talked to me about it and encouraged me to apply, and I did.”

“I always have to have something new to keep me going and this is something new.”

Ferguson has been at Patrick Henry for 11 years and is the softball coach.

It was the biggest game of the year--the first game of the year. And it was one that many anticipated being a preview of the 3-A championship.

But Morse High School missed a grand opportunity to make a grand--as in, at least $1,000--when the the teams opened San Diego-area football action.

The Tigers hosted Rancho Buena Vista in their home opener at Mesa College in a rematch of last year’s Section final, but there were no programs available.

The approximately 3,500 fans were left to the mercy of the announcers to identify players.

John Geis and Martin Henderson contributed to this report.