4 Area Players Earn Berths on Slammers : Volleyball: Ventura entry in new women’s professional league signs contingent from Nordhoff and Hueneme.

There will be a distinctly local flavor on the Ventura Slammers’ roster when the team opens play next month in the new professional Women’s Western Volleyball League.

Four former Ventura County high school standouts are among those who have signed with the team, league officials have announced. Cristy Sandefur, Leanna Merriweather-Clegg and Teri Johnson played on the 1986 Nordhoff High state Division II championship team, and Maria Reyes led Hueneme to the ’86 state Division I title.

Sandefur, a 5-foot-5 setter, was a four-year starter and an All-Atlantic 10 Conference performer for Rhode Island. Merriweather-Clegg, a 5-10 middle blocker, was a first-team Volleyball Monthly high school All-American and played on Hawaii’s 1987 NCAA championship team.

Johnson, a 6-0 outside hitter-middle blocker, earned Division III All-American honors for Colorado College in 1990. Reyes, a 5-9 outside hitter, holds all-time records for digs for UC Santa Barbara and digs average in the Big West Conference.

The Slammers also signed middle blockers Lisa Strand (Hawaii), Liz Bevington (Pepperdine) and Erin Deeters (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), and former UC Santa Barbara women’s assistant Michael Maas was hired as coach. Maas helped Santa Barbara to reach the NCAA final in 1974-75. “He was the greatest defensive player in the history of the school,” UCSB women’s Coach Kathy Gregory said.

The Slammers, who will play home matches at Ventura High, will open preseason play Feb. 19 in San Bernardino before coming home for a Feb. 21 match against Salinas. A 10-match regular-season schedule will begin Feb. 27 at Sacramento, with the home opener Feb. 28 against San Bernardino.

Elsewhere around the league, the Santa Monica Sharks hired Pierce College women’s Coach Bert Fuller as their coach.