Just Another Member of the Bruin Family : Amy Banachowski Joins Her Father at UCLA After a Season at UC San Diego

Amy Banachowski is used to competing on championship volleyball teams, but this time it’s different. She is playing at UCLA for her dad, Andy, and when it comes to championships, father knows best.

In 25 years of coaching at UCLA, Andy Banachowski has led the Bruins to five national titles and seven conference championships.

Amy, 19, who grew up in Manhattan Beach, has lived through most of them. She also has experienced her share of victories playing for Mira Costa High, which won the 1989 state championship.

As a college freshman last year, Banachowski was a starting setter for UC San Diego’s NCAA Division III national championship team. She left San Diego in spring, enrolled at UCLA and joined the volleyball team as a walk-on.

Banachowski has not played much, but that doesn’t diminish her importance to the team.

She is a reserve defensive specialist and often has to dig balls from the back row for the Bruins (29-5), who will defend their national title in the NCAA championship tournament starting tonight at Pauley Pavilion.

The sixth-ranked Bruins will play 12th-ranked Ohio State in one of two semifinals at 7 p.m., and second-ranked Cal State Long Beach will play fifth-ranked Louisiana State in the other semifinal at 9 p.m. The winners will meet in the championship match on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Banachowski never dreamed of playing for her father, who is one of the country’s most successful volleyball coaches.

When Banachowski decided to transfer from San Diego, she considered Colorado and UC Berkeley before selecting UCLA.

“I don’t want to say it was too easy, but it wasn’t really challenging at San Diego,” Banachowski said. “It wasn’t like we were hackers, but I wanted more competition. It wasn’t the level I was used to at Costa.

“At first I didn’t even think about coming to UCLA. First I talked to my mom, then I talked to my dad. He’s one of those mellow people who stays down the middle. He said, ‘If you want to come, we can work it out.’ I was afraid of conflict stuff I might bring up because my dad is the coach. That’s why I was timid about approaching the whole thing.”

Andy, 46, says he discussed potential difficulties with Amy before the decision was finalized.

“We talked about the problems we were going to have,” Andy said. “I told her there were going to be tough situations. As a team they sometimes get ticked off at the coach and you have to sit there and listen to it.

“But it’s worked out wonderfully. She’s worked very hard and she’s proven herself to be a very capable player. I’m thrilled to have her as a coach and as a dad. I’ve enjoyed it very much.”

It seems appropriate that Banachowski ended up at UCLA because Bruin volleyball has always been a part of her life. Jo Duarte, her mother and Andy’s former wife, played for Andy at UCLA. Banachowski and her brother, Bret, grew up around the sport. As a youth, she used to watch her dad coach.

Now she says it’s difficult to believe she plays for him. It’s not what she anticipated.

“I expected it to be a little bit harder,” Banachowski said. “I thought it would be hard for him to separate volleyball from the personal stuff. He doesn’t treat me like his daughter. He’s the unemotional kind.

“He’s real careful about not letting me in on what’s going on with coaching. He keeps coaching real official. He doesn’t talk to me about other players when we see each other away from volleyball.”

UCLA assistant Liz Masakayan says the father-daughter relationship has not affected either Banachowski on the court.

“The fact that he’s her dad is not a factor in her playing or not playing,” said Masakayan, a former UCLA All-American and Olympian. “You could never tell that he’s her dad. He’s fair and even.”

There is, however, pressure associated with competing for your father.

“I really feel it on bad days,” Banachowski said. “When I’m not doing as well as I could I feel like people will think I’m here because of him. Everyone knows I’m his daughter. I’m never mentioned without them saying, ‘This is the coach’s daughter.’ I’m Amy, not the coach’s daughter!”

Banachowski recalled her first game as a Bruin. She said it was exciting and at the same time nerve-racking.

“I went in and I was shaking,” she said. “I was serving and I thought, ‘OK, take a breath. Calm down.’ I thought, ‘Wow, I’m out here!’ It really felt good. I was fired up.”

Banachowski plans to finish her career at UCLA, although she may never be a setter because at 5-foot-6, she is considered too short. She is willing to play a backup role just as she did at Mira Costa.

Banachowski saw limited action with the Mustangs because she played behind two of the school’s best setters, Piper Hahn and Robin Ortgiesen. Hahn was the 1989 CIF player of the year and Ocean League most valuable player. Ortgiesen, who recently completed her freshman season at Loyola Marymount, was an All-CIF and All-State selection as a junior in 1989.

Ironically, Hahn plays for top-ranked Stanford, the team UCLA upset, 15-2, 15-12, 16-14, in last week’s West Regional final at Stanford.

“Amy probably would have been a starting setter at any other high school,” Mira Costa Coach DaeLea Aldrich said. “She’s a good athlete and she has a lot of good court sense. She can play and be competitive at the Division I level in the backcourt.”

Banachowski knows she will never be a standout at UCLA, but it is worth competing for her father inside the gym she spent so many hours as a kid.

“It makes me feel good, knowing I can play with the best,” she said. “Maybe I’m not the best of the best, but I can play with the best.”