Pierce Team Is Certainly No Sleeper : Volleyball: Last year’s state finalist still forced to practice early at different sites because of quake damage to home gym.

Mark Smith wakes at about 4:30 a.m. most weekdays and arrives at the gym du jour as the sun is peeking above the horizon.

Practice begins at 6 sharp for Smith and the other nomadic members of the Pierce College men’s volleyball team--some days at Valley, others at Pepperdine. As they did last season, the Brahmas will play their home matches anywhere but at home.

Until the Pierce gym is rebuilt--it was condemned after the Northridge earthquake last Jan. 17--the Brahmas have no choice but to be morning people.

There are simply no gyms available in the afternoon.

“The team has handled it pretty well,” said Smith, a sophomore setter.

“It’s very rare that somebody misses practice.”

Coach Ken Stanley is hoping the gym will be ready by April so the Brahmas can finish their season by playing a true home match--something many of his players have never done.

In the meantime, Pierce will play its first home match Wednesday against Long Beach City at Valley and the remainder at Taft High.

“I’ve been there so many times, I never realized it,” Stanley said. “But some of the kids have never played in their home gym.”

The Brahmas will open their season Sunday in a round-robin tournament at Long Beach City.

At least this year, Pierce has some sort of routine.

Last season, the Brahmas were scrambling from gym to gym in search of a place to practice. It left them with only an hour and a half of workout time each day, and no time to work on the intricacies of the game--things like defense and ball control.

Instead, they relied on hitting and blocking.

They still won 20 consecutive matches before losing to Orange Coast in the state finals.

Now Pierce’s morning practices last either two or three hours, depending on the day and location.

And the Brahmas, instead of simply attempting to pound the ball down other teams’ throats, will look to control their matches.

“We do everything well,” Smith said. “We might not be as physically talented (as last year), but we make up for it by groveling on defense.”

The Brahmas may be groveling more than usual until the return of stellar sophomore outside hitter Jason Ring, who suffered a broken arm while snowboarding in early January.

The 6-foot-3 Ring most likely will miss the first two weeks of the season.

“No team can rely on one player,” said Stanley, who guided the Brahmas to the state championship in 1992. “Some other people will have to step up.”

And Stanley has a number of experienced sophomores to turn to.

They include 6-7 middle/opposite hitter Kevin Barnett and 6-1 outside hitter Felipe Placencia. Both are strong attackers and blockers, Stanley said.

Setters Dan Nash, an All-Western State Conference player last season, and Smith will run the offense.

Carrick Patterson, a 5-11 redshirt freshman from Thousand Oaks, will be the Brahmas’ primary passer.

And once Ring returns, the Brahmas will be able to shuffle more players into the middle and keep the hard-hitting Ring on the outside.

“We’ll be more diversified and spontaneous,” Stanley said.

But those are things this team is used to. What it would like is some continuity.

And perhaps a chance to sleep in.

Said Smith: “We might go through Pierce College volleyball without playing a true home (match).”