UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK / JOHN WEYLER : Edwards Hits Ground Running in New Sport

In four years at the net, UC Irvine’s Popi Edwards slammed volleyballs down onto the court at such a record-setting clip that it left a hefty imprint in the school’s record book.

Edwards, a three-time All-Big West first-team selection, is Irvine’s all-time leader in kills (1,590), attack attempts (4,013) and digs (1,045). An opposite hitter, she led the team with 427 kills this season.

But she’s not going out on top.

In fact, she’s not ready to go out at all. She’s just traded spikes for spikes, slipping out of her sneakers and onto the fast lane of the track stadium.

It’s been five years since Edwards competed in track as a junior at Long Beach Poly High--as her muscles keep reminding her after a workout--but she’s not about to let that slow her down. She’s out there daily, running and jumping and celebrating her athleticism.

“First, I’m doing it to stay in shape,” she said. “I don’t like the idea of doing nothing. And second, it’s something that as an athlete, I’m hopeful I can get back into. It’s been a long time. I might jump back into it or my body might say, ‘Hey, this isn’t what we want to do.’

“I’m sure I’ve changed a lot physically. I haven’t done anything timed yet, but I’ve been doing some drills with the girls and quickly remembered that you use some different muscles. It’s definitely going to be a challenge. You may not hear or see anything from me this year, but I’ll need a fifth year to get my bio degree, so maybe it’ll be next year.”

Right now, Edwards and Coach Vince O’Boyle aren’t sure if she will be specializing in the sprints, the long jump or the high jump.

“She’s an awesome athlete,” O’Boyle said. “One way or another, she’s going to be able to help us.”

Two things are certain: nobody will be taking her lightly and she wouldn’t be competing just for the fun of it. Her collegiate volleyball career is testimony to that. She was lightly recruited while in high school, but quickly grabbed everyone’s attention during her freshman year at Irvine.

“In high school, we didn’t have that great of a team and I didn’t make much of a difference,” she said. “We didn’t do anything until we won our league my senior year, and not many people noticed I could play.

“Then, after I got to Irvine, they all wondered where I came from. Coaches were all, ‘Oh, we’re sorry we didn’t recruit you.’ ”

Edwards excelled, but the Anteaters kept hitting the floor of the Big West standings like one of her kills. Irvine was 24-48 in conference play during her tenure.

“I didn’t realize before I got here how bad it would be,” she said. “Before every season, I always had high hopes and tried to do my best in any situation. We had a couple of OK seasons when I was a freshman and a sophomore. I thought we were lacking a little firepower, but were on the verge of turning it around. Then I found out that the girls I had played with those first two years were really key to our defense.

“The last two years, we’ve had a lot of new people and we’ve had a problem with intensity.”

Edwards admits to bouts of frustration and even self-doubt, but she feels she has learned something about life, even if the experience has made her a bit more cynical.

“Everybody always says if you work hard, you’ll get where you’re going,” she said, smiling, “but I’ve learned that’s not necessarily true. You can work hard and still not come out on top.

“You know, individually, I did all right. I came out of it with some honors and I’ll always have the honors. But the fact that I couldn’t bring the rest of my team with me, well, I guess I’m just not the kind of person who can pull a team up.

“I don’t know. It certainly wasn’t that I didn’t try. Maybe it was too heavy of a load.”

*

Having fun yet? Coach Rod Baker says this time of year is “fun time,” but some of his players might not think so. Finals are over and no one is complaining about that, but two-a-day practices, extra weight-lifting and learning new offensive and defensive schemes are not everyone’s idea of a good time.

“There’s no school, nothing but basketball,” Baker said. “We have to use the three-week break to our favor. We’ll practice twice most days and lift a lot to try and get stronger.

“We’ll also do some different things offensively and fool around with some things defensively and just try to keep some other things going. It’s nice to have the time to put in some stuff to have ready just in case we need it.”

Anteater Notes

Opposing coaches have seen lots of him on video, but after getting up close and personal with Raimonds Miglinieks, they continue to be amazed. “He’s as good as any point guard we’ve seen this year,” USC Coach Charlie Parker said. “He’s like [Arizona’s Damon] Stoudamire and [Stanford’s] Brevin Knight. He’s not as flashy or as quick, but he gets the job done.” . . . The men’s volleyball team hosts Queen’s University from Kingston, Canada, in the season opener at 7 p.m. Jan. 3 in Crawford Hall. Senior John Arata and juniors Chris Harger and Evan Alexander, who combined for 643 kills last season, lead the Anteaters. Irvine was 9-14 in 1995. . . . Senior midfielder David Szekeres was named to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation all-academic team. A criminology major from Villa Park High, Szekeres had a 3.81 grade-point average. He had three assists this season.