Volleyball Team Is on the Rise at North Torrance

Nobody needed to show the new North Torrance boys’ volleyball coach the ropes before the season began.

Nobody even dared to try.

“We were a little intimidated because of his status,” said Robert Morgan, a senior outside hitter.

Will Fritcher, a senior setter, was also aware of his new coach’s credentials.

“I heard he was kind of big at our school and I’ve seen pictures,” Fritcher said. “I remember watching him on television.”

Should anyone forget, their coach’s name also hangs on a banner in the North gym.

The new coach was none other than Lawrence Hom, the Southern Section Player of the Year as a senior in 1985. Hom, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound outside hitter, guided the Saxons to the Southern Section 4-A Division semifinals in 1985 and played at USC for four seasons. As a junior in 1988, he was the captain of the Trojans’ national championship team.

Hom, who also played on U.S. Olympic Festival gold-medal winning teams in 1986 and 1987, earned All-American and Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. second-team honors as a senior at USC. He led the Trojans in kills, digs and aces.

Hom, 25, served as graduate assistant at USC in 1990 before beginning work on a teaching credential at Cal State Long Beach in 1991.

Last year, Hom took a year off from school to play professional volleyball in Belgium. After North coach Chuck Donlan accepted a position as an assistant men’s volleyball coach at Loyola Marymount, Hom returned to his alma mater.

“It was a long nine months, but it was a good experience to see Europe and the world,” Hom said. “I wouldn’t have minded playing for another year, but I had to weigh the cost benefit of putting my life and credential on hold for another year. Everything just fell into place.”

Everything has gone well on the court for North (12-2, 8-0 in Pioneer League play), which won its fourth league title in eight seasons.

“Coaching at the high school level, you have to rush to install the basics,” Hom said. “It’s nice to see the kids grow and improve, but I have a habit of underestimating the team and thinking they could do better. I guess I won’t be satisfied until we win 15-0, 15-0, 15-0.”

North hasn’t been able to meet that goal yet, but the Saxons were dominant in Pioneer League play, sweeping all but two matches and winning 24 of 26 games. North closed out league play with a 15-13, 15-12, 15-11 victory over South Torrance on Tuesday.

On Friday, North was defeated by third-ranked Upland, 15-10, 15-12, 12-15, 11-15, 15-10, in a nonleague match. The Saxons’ only other loss was against undefeated Mira Costa, the No. 2 team in Division I.

Playoff pairings will be announced Monday. North will play host to a first-round Division II match on Friday.

Last season, the Saxons finished second in the Pioneer League before losing in the first round of the 3-A playoffs to Long Beach Poly. Despite a roster of only eight players, Hom is optimistic North can go further this season. The Saxons have only one player, senior middle blocker Jared Myer (6-4), taller than six feet.

“I wasn’t quite sure we had the talent to do well,” Morgan said. “But (Hom) helps us call out the hitters and with what’s going on. He knows every little rule. We’re very glad to get him.”

Hom has assisted with the Torrance Volleyball Club for the past eight years and plays on the Nike-Paul Mitchell team, a Carson-based United States Volleyball Assn. team.

Hom, who earned a degree in public administration, is currently in his last semester of student teaching at South Torrance. He is hoping to find a coaching position and a job as a social science teacher at a South Bay school.

“Teaching comes first,” Hom said. “If I can get a coaching job based on my past achievements, I would feel pretty lucky. To find both would be ideal. I’m guess I’m pretty close to the ideal situation now.”

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Homecoming: The victory over North was bittersweet for Upland Coach Randy Ittner.

Ittner, a 1981 North graduate who went on to earn All-American honors at UC Santa Barbara, coached Hom in 1984 and 1985 on the Torrance Volleyball Club.

“We knew each other and what we were going to do,” Hom said. “In a sense, it was fun, but it was a pride-type of thing.”

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Pioneer accomplishment: The El Segundo baseball team clinched its sixth consecutive league title and 22nd in 34 seasons under Coach John Stevenson with a 7-2 victory over Centennial Friday at Recreation Park.

El Segundo (19-5, 12-1), which returned only two starters, has won 18 of 20 games after a 1-3 start.

The Eagles will finish Pioneer play with games against Torrance on Tuesday and Thursday before playing host to a Southern Section Division III first-round playoff game on May 21.

“We were kind of shaky at first because we did a lot of shuffling and moving players around where they haven’t played before,” Stevenson said. “It wasn’t so much the errors as the players being lost.”

El Segundo, which defeated the Centennial, 21-2, on Tuesday, scored five runs to break a 2-2 tie in the third inning against the Apaches on Friday. Sophomore starter Jamin Kear (5-1) earned the victory, striking out three in three innings.

Relievers Bill Brown and sophomore Derek Fowler gave up only one hit over the next four innings. Center fielder David Scanlan had two hits, including a double, and drove in two runs.

“None of the other teams at El Segundo really did much this year,” Scanlan said. “Everybody expects the baseball team to win every year. It’s a relief.”

Three teams are in contention for the league’s two remaining playoff berths with two league games remaining.

West Torrance is second at 8-4-1 after a 5-4 loss to Torrance on Friday. South and Torrance are tied for third at 7-6. West meets South twice this week. The Warriors will play host to South Tuesday night at 7:30 at Recreation Park and will play at South on Friday.

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Keeping track: The Inglewood boys’ track team had 11 league champions in five events and Hawthorne had five individual champions in the Bay League finals at Santa Monica College on Friday.

Inglewood’s Brandon Crockett won the 100 and 200 in 10.7 and 21.7 seconds and Leandrew Childs won the triple jump, bounding 44-feet-1 1/2. Crockett and Childs also teamed on the Sentinels victorious 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams, which were timed in 42.8 and 3:22.7.

Marquis Jones of Hawthorne equaled his seasonal best of 14.2 to win the 110 high hurdles and also clocked 38.7 to win the 300 intermediates. Dan Minami led Peninsula sweeps in the 1,600 and 3,200, winning in 4:30.2 and 9:51.2.

Peninsula, which qualified 16 boys and girls for Saturday’s Division I preliminaries at Trabuco Hills, swept the girls’ 800, 1,600 and 3,200. Jaime Artzner won the 800 (2:21.1) and 1,600 (5:09.7) and Lynn Snyder won the 3,200 (11:16.8).

Keisha Wallace of Leuzinger won the 100 and 200 in 12.1 and 24.4 and Hawthorne’s Meshana Mays was victorious in the 300 hurdles (47.6) and long jump (15-7).

Notes

Fred Peterson, 61, the athletic director at West Torrance for the past 29 years, will retire in June. Peterson, who has coached the track team at West for the past 18 years, coached the football team for 19 seasons, amassing a 140-53-3 record, before stepping down in 1983 to become an assistant at El Camino College. The Warriors won seven league championships and the Southern Section Coastal Conference title in 1982.

Mike Shiazzano (6-3) of Mary Star pitched a two-hitter in a 3-1 Santa Fe League victory over Verbum Dei at Jackie Robinson field in Compton Friday night. David Young had a triple and drove in two runs and Francisco Franco was three for three. The Stars improved to 14-7 and 8-2 to take a half-game lead over Verbum Dei, which finished 9-3. The Stars have two league games remaining against Murphy.

The Peninsula boys’ and girls’ swim teams won team titles at the Bay League swimming finals at El Camino College on Friday. Andy Steip won the 50 and 100-yard freestyle in 22.5 seconds and 49.6 to lead the Panthers to a 419.5-368.5 victory over Santa Monica in the boys’ competition. Maynko Abe won the 50 and 100-yard freestyle in 26.2 and 56.5 and Leigh Wagner won the 200 individual medley (2:18.0) and 100 backstroke (1:01.2) to lead the Panther girls to a 419.5-325 victory over Santa Monica.

Steve Rhodes and Rob Spencer had 20 and 18 kills as the South boys’ volleyball team defeated West, 15-8, 15-11, 17-15, in a Pioneer League third-place tiebreaker Friday to earn the league’s remaining playoff berth. The teams tied with 3-5 league records. Torrance finished second behind undefeated North at 6-2.

Deanna Guerrero of Torrance and Kerry Martin of Redondo have not given up an earned run in league play in leading their teams to the Pioneer and Ocean League titles. Guerrero (7-2), who has not given up a run in 63 innings, pitched a three-hitter in a Tartars’ 1-0 victory over West on Friday as Torrance improved to 13-3 and 11-2. Martin, a freshman who has a 0.31 earned-run average, did not give up an earned run in 71 innings of Ocean League play to lead Redondo (17-5, 13-1) to its first league softball title in school history. She combined with Jessica Plancich for a two-hitter in the Sea Hawks’ 9-0 victory over Mira Costa on Thursday.