PREP PREVIEW ’92 / Girls’ Volleyball : All-Everything, and Back for More

One Orange County high school volleyball coach began his preseason interview with his own question.

“ She isn’t back, is she?” he asked.

“Yes, she is,” he was told.

“Oh, no,” he said. “She couldn’t have been a junior last season.”

It’s true.

Laguna Beach’s Rachel Wacholder was only a junior last season, when she led the Artists to their first Southern Section 5-A title since 1976 and was named The Times’ Orange County volleyball player of the year.

She is back for her senior season a year older, a year stronger and, believe it or not, a year better. She was a starter on the Orange County Volleyball club team that won the 18-and-under division at the prestigious UC Davis tournament in July.

“There is so much pressure on her this year, coming off the kind of season she had,” Laguna Beach Coach Michael Soylular said. “She has had one of the most decorated high school careers--county MVP, All-CIF, All-American, all-everything.”

At 5 feet 8, Wacholder is about five inches shorter than most college players, but her 33-inch vertical jump--and that’s on a bad day--makes up for her lack of height.

Division I college coaches are already leaping at the opportunity to sign her. Her shopping list includes Pepperdine, UCLA, Colorado, Illinois, Notre Dame.

“I would really like to go away to school,” Wacholder said. “But I might just end up staying right here.”

Duke also is interested in her. Her sister, Ashley, a 1991 Laguna Beach graduate, started for the Blue Devils last season and was the Atlantic Coast Conference freshman of the year.

Could she and her sister become teammates again?

“I’ve always followed in my sister’s footsteps,” Rachel said. “She started playing volleyball, and then I did. She went to Laguna, and then I did. I think we should go off and do our own things in college.”

Wacholder’s potential first flashed when she earned a starting spot alongside Ashley as a sophomore. She emerged as the county’s top player last season, averaging 25 kills a match with a .430 hitting percentage.

She was at her best in big matches. In the section finals, she had 28 kills during a three-game sweep of El Toro, the eventual State champion.

Laguna Beach (23-3) lost to Lakewood St. Joseph in the Southern California Regional semifinals, and the Artists finished the season ranked eighth in Volleyball Monthly magazine’s national ratings.

Wacholder was named to the magazine’s All-America first team, the All-Southern Section first team and was the Pacific Coast League’s player of the year.

She was a consensus pick as the county player of the year, an award that traditionally goes to a senior.

Perhaps that was why Wacholder was so surprised when told she had won it.

“No way am I the best player in the county,” she said. “There are players who are so much better than I am.”

Humble or not, Wacholder has a chance to repeat this season. She’s not betting on it, though.

“There are still so many good people out there,” she said. “I know I won’t get player of the year again. No way.”

Soylular said Wacholder has improved during the club season, playing with and against older, more experienced players.

She was promoted from Orange County Volleyball’s 17-and-under team last spring to the 18-and-under team.

“I was upset when they first moved me up,” Wacholder said. “I was close to everyone on the 17-and-under team. My best friend, (Corona del Mar’s) Lori Newcomer, was on the 17 team.”

But Wacholder fit in with the new team, and she had earned a starting position by March.

She played well at the Davis tournament, one of the biggest girls’ high school sports events in the nation.

But Wacholder struggled in the final, which was played in front of 7,000 people and televised by a regional cable network.

“I was awful,” she said. “I had no confidence. It was a bad day, I guess.”

Volleyball at a Glance

Top players--Lynette Anderson, El Modena; Stefanie Bakke, La Habra; Karen Benkovsky, Capistrano Valley Christian; Pattie Boland, Mater Dei; Lori Bowers, Dana Hills; Lisa Brown, Fountain Valley; Kathleen Bunce, Capistrano Valley Christian; Amanda Burrows, El Toro; Kim Coleman, Corona del Mar; Vanessa Dahl, Huntington Beach; Olivia DiCamilli, Costa Mesa; Nina Foster, Mission Viejo; Roberta Gehlke, Mater Dei; Jenny Hecker, Newport Harbor; Rachel Hochgesang, Sunny Hills; Deana Itow, Huntington Beach; Katie Keane, Santa Margarita; Sandy Koehler, La Habra; Hilary Kyle, Laguna Beach; Heather Lowe, Cypress; Misty May, Newport Harbor; Kelley Moohr, Santa Margarita; Kelly Morrow, Capistrano Valley; Lori Newcomer, Corona del Mar; Luann Petix, Los Alamitos; Jessica Salmons, Fountain Valley; Analisa Saylor, El Toro; Melissa Schutz, Newport Harbor; Brandy Smerko, Valencia; Shelly Smith, Corona del Mar; Jennifer Stroffe, Corona del Mar; Bethany Stidham, Whittier Christian; Anne Swayne, Laguna Beach; Jeanne Vetter, Dana Hills; Rachel Wacholder, Laguna Beach; Brooke Weaver, Edison; Kari Wehner, Esperanza; Melissa Wendt, Huntington Beach; Stephanie Wichmann, Capistrano Valley; Amber Woodcock, El Toro; Natasha Zila, Edison.

League favorites--Century: El Modena; Empire: Cypress and Los Alamitos; Freeway: La Habra; Garden Grove: Garden Grove and La Quinta; Olympic: Capistrano Valley Christian; Orange: Valencia; Pacific Coast: Laguna Beach; Sea View: Corona del Mar; South Coast: El Toro; Sunset: Edison and Fountain Valley.

Coaches’ final 1991 Top 10 poll--1. El Toro, 2. Laguna Beach, 3. La Habra, 4. Mater Dei, 5. El Modena, 6. Capistrano Valley, 7. Newport Harbor, 8. Corona del Mar, 9. Sunny Hills, 10. Capistrano Valley Christian.

Coaches’ 1992 preseason top 10 poll--1. Corona del Mar, 2. Laguna Beach, 3. El Toro, 4. Mater Dei, 5. Newport Harbor, 6. Capistrano Valley, 7. La Habra, 8. Fountain Valley, 9. El Modena, 10. Sunny Hills.

Key dates: Orange County Championships, Sept. 19 at Marina High; Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach at Chicago Sports Challenge tournament Oct. 2-3; Southern Section finals, Nov. 21 at Cerritos College; Southern California Regional finals, Dec. 1 at various sites; State championships, Dec. 5 at Cal State Fullerton.

Notes: Capistrano Valley Christian returns Bunce and Benkovsky from last year’s team that won the State Division V title. Dave Barkley is the Eagles’ new coach, replacing George Carey. . . . Former Corona del Mar Coach Dale Flickinger has taken over at El Modena, replacing Craig Tefertiller, who resigned to go back to college. . . . Mike Hinton, who coached Lakewood St. Joseph to the State Division I finals last season, is the new coach at Fountain Valley, where he replaced Misty Sano. . . . Rocky Ciarelli and his wife, Cammy, one of the top pro beach players, are the new coaches at Huntington Beach.

Look for Marina, Edison, Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley to have a close Sunset League race. . . . Edison has reached the playoff for the past nine seasons. . . . The Sea View and South Coast leagues are by far the toughest in the county this season.