Something’s Bruin at the Nihipali Home : Volleyball: Amy is the lastest to pick UCLA, which is a key to the family’s recipe for success.

Every field has First Families.

It’s the Kennedys in politics, the Leakeys in archeology, and so on.

And in Orange County volleyball, few can challenge the Nihipali monarchy.

Amy Nihipali, a junior middle blocker for Esperanza High, made a verbal commitment Friday to attend UCLA in fall, 1997. She will follow in the footsteps of her older brother, Paul, who also played at Esperanza and who is a junior on the Bruin men’s team.

Nihipali’s recent commitment is surprising because top athletes normally wait until their senior year to announce what school they will attend. Nihipali is the first junior to commit to UCLA in the program’s 29-year history. According to NCAA rules, UCLA Coach Andy Banachowski cannot even confirm her commitment or comment publicly for another 16 months, until she officially signs a letter of intent.

Even though most of the top college volleyball programs were interested in Nihipali, she didn’t take any recruiting trips other than one to UCLA, which has won three NCAA titles.

“I have wanted to go to [UCLA] since fifth grade,” she said.

Undoubtedly, the Bruins are happy to have Nihipali, a three-year starter for Esperanza and a first-team All-Sunset League selection last season. Nihipali probably will take over at middle blocker for Bruin junior Kim Krull, who was selected the Pacific 10 Conference and national freshman of the year in 1993.

Nihipali is a standout on an Esperanza team that often is overshadowed by league powerhouse Huntington Beach, which is ranked No. 2 in the nation. One advantage the Aztecs have over most teams is their height--they have six players on their roster who are at least 6 feet. Nihipali, 6-2, gives the Aztecs experience.

“I think our team has grown up a lot because I think she kind of brings everybody up a level with her expectations,” Kersten said.

Nihipali led the Orange County Volleyball Club to the Davis national festival 16-and-under championship in 1994 and to the 18-and-under championship last season.

“If you had seen her play two years ago you wouldn’t believe this has happened,” said Charlie Brande, Orange County Volleyball Club coach. “She has worked so hard and maximized her talents to get where she is at.”

Nihipali also was one of 18 girls selected from about 450 across the nation to participate in tryouts for the girls’ national youth team in San Diego this summer. She didn’t make the 12-girl roster for the traveling team after the coaches placed her at outside hitter, a position she hadn’t played before.

Nihipali’s volleyball prowess may have descended to her from her two aunts, both of whom played college volleyball. Pauline Mata’u was an All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference selection and All-NAIA District 7 selection at Southern Utah from 1976-78. Pammy Lokken led Brigham Young-Hawaii to a school-record 101 victories in her four years as a starter from 1983-87.

There is another Nihipali who soon will be playing college volleyball. Keala Nihipali, Amy’s first cousin who is a senior at Las Vegas Chaparral High, has verbally committed to Hawaii. Keala and Amy could play against each other in 1997 at the Hawaii tournament.

For the event, the Nihipalis plan to fashion a combined UCLA/Hawaii T-shirt for the girls’ grandmother, Hanaloa, to wear.

Paul, who has seven relatives with the same name, also has been a mentor for Amy. Before he left home for UCLA, he and Amy often could be found practicing in the front yard of their home.

Paul helped Esperanza to three Empire League titles and a Southern Section championship in 1993, when he was selected most valuable player in Division II. Last season, he helped the UCLA men’s team to a national championship and was a second-team selection by the American Volleyball Coaches Assn.

“Watching Paul was sort of an inspiration,” Nihipali said. “He is not too bad of a role model.”

Banachowski can thank Paul for his latest recruit. Paul took Amy on an unofficial tour--”We covered every inch of the campus,” she said--and they also visited many Los Angeles tourist spots in a “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” kind of outing that sold Amy on the school.

The Nihipalis are a tight-knit family. The only three weeks of the year that aren’t committed to volleyball the family spends together in Idaho, water-skiing and horseback riding at a relative’s ranch, which Amy calls her “nirvana.”

“We have fun with each other,” Nihipali said. “We talk to our parents. We talk their ears off.”

The engine that runs this active family is Sally, who is the mother, driver, No. 1 fan and entitled critic.

“I’ve never been one of those mothers who thinks her kids can do no wrong,” she said recently while sitting in the stands at Valencia High with her husband, Mino, and her youngest son, Patrick, 12, as Esperanza played Huntington Beach.

“It is amazing how her parents show up for the 4:30 game times. Then, the same family is up there [the next day at UCLA] watching Paul play,” said Kurt Kersten, Esperanza coach.

When Amy was 14, she began playing on the Orange County Volleyball Club’s 16-and-under team, which practiced at Newport Harbor High. Up to four days a week for the next two years, Sally would pile Amy and Patrick in the car for a 4:30 departure from their home in Anaheim and battle traffic for 45 minutes. Then, as Amy practiced, Patrick sat in the Newport Harbor coach’s office and did his homework. Sally waited and watched. Often, they did not return home until 11 p.m.

The driving schedule got easier, for Sally at least, when Amy got her driver’s license last summer. Patrick, however, soon will begin playing basketball year-round with a club team. With Patrick’s practices and with trips to watch Amy and Paul play, things are only going to get busier for the Nihipalis.

“We don’t know how that is going to work yet,” Sally said with a smile.

Just another minor hitch in the life of a First Family.