Volleyball Crossover a Tall Tale

Basketball season is finally over.

Or is it?

Scan the rosters of the best volleyball teams in the region and it’s easy to find basketball players.

A forward-turned-middle blocker here, a guard-turned-setter there. Basketball-volleyball combinations everywhere.

The reasons are rather obvious. Height is usually a prerequisite in both sports, as is jumping ability.

Those who stand tallest and jump highest do just fine. Those who don’t might rest or play another sport.

Royal High, which has won five consecutive Marmonte League volleyball titles, is relying on a trio of basketball players to add quality depth to its squad.

Nick Flanagan (6 feet 6), Ryan Denihan (6-5) and Jason Brown (6-3) helped the Highlander basketball team win the Marmonte League title.

“I always look at the ninth-grade basketball team to find players,” said Royal Coach Bob Ferguson, who played basketball at Pepperdine. “I know the good athletes before they walk on the [volleyball] court.”

Ferguson selectively approaches several basketball players each year. He sees the similarities.

“The feet move the same,” Ferguson said. “You have the same balance points. All the jumping mechanics are basically the same, except you lean back more in volleyball.”

Eugene Kwong and Devon Berry starred for the Van Nuys basketball team that won the City Section 3-A Division championship.

But basketball season extended two weeks into volleyball practice, and Kwong and Berry had only two days to rest before they started bumps, sets and spikes.

“It was pretty crazy,” said the 6-3 Kwong. “Right when I got back to practice, we had a game [two days later]. All of a sudden you change sports, but I needed a week off to rest because we were still celebrating.”

Such stories abound. The basketball-volleyball overlap is unmistakable.

Channel Islands, expected to contend for the Marmonte League title, has talented setter Junior Mosones, a forward on the basketball team.

Highland has John Burrell and Mike Fawcett, who led the Bulldogs to the Golden League basketball title. Burrell, who averaged nearly 30 points a game for the Bulldogs, decided last month that he wanted to play volleyball.

Alemany, a Mission League contender, has Tim Nelson, Bob Cromwell and Eric Wollin, names familiar to Indian basketball fans.

Basketball players Scott Sheridan of Thousand Oaks and Ryan Hill of Crespi are perhaps the best players on their volleyball teams.

“The transition from volleyball to basketball is probably easier than anything else,” Thousand Oaks Coach James Park said.

But does a volleyball team need hoops hustle in order to win?

Not necessarily.

Harvard-Westlake, probably the best team in the region, does not have a basketball player on its roster.

Which is not to say that Wolverine basketball stars Jason and Jarron Collins wouldn’t make a nice tandem at the net. Jason is 6-11, Jarron 6-10.

“I don’t think there’s a block that could stop them,” said Harvard-Westlake Coach Jess Quiroz, who once offhandedly set a few balls to the Collins brothers in the gym.

Campbell Hall has another volleyball team making some noise without basketball heroes.

The Vikings, ranked second in the Southern Section Division III poll, have height--Dylan Herrick is 6-4 and Jon Rosenberg is 6-5--but no basketball players.