Royal’s Baxter Lives for His Game

The season, or what little might have been left of it, was disappearing amid the screams of John Baxter.

The main man in Royal High’s offense, Baxter clutched his knee, rolled on the floor and maybe, just maybe, let loose a few obscenities after teammate Nick Flanagan collided with him at practice.

Bad move for Flanagan, a recipient of countless Baxter sets and a messenger with worse news for flustered Coach Bob Ferguson.

“I heard something snap,” Flanagan said. “I think it might be ligament damage.”

Ferguson was almost ready to snap, what with the Redondo tournament a couple days away and the Southern Section playoffs a couple weeks away. The Highlanders would lose their leader, the high-octane offense would lose its luster, the junior varsity setter would have to be brought up. . . .

That’s when Baxter popped up from the floor with the help of “magic rubbing” on his knee from assistant coach Mike Bisutti.

In charge of keeping the Highlanders well-balanced, Baxter, with the help of his willing accomplices, threw Ferguson off-balance.

“They hauled me away,” Ferguson said, “hook, line and sinker.”

Baxter, The Times’ volleyball player of the year in the region, nearly helped Royal haul away the Southern Section Division I championship, which would have made the Highlanders the first team in the region to win at the highest level.

The Highlanders lost to Esperanza in four games, which closed the door on their season and Baxter’s career.

The Marmonte League player of the year finished with 3,316 career assists, the most in Highlander history, and next week will undoubtedly be named All-Southern Section for the second year in a row.

Baxter knows how to spread the ball around and has great vision of the opponent’s block. He can deliver a kill without warning, turning and burning with the ease of some collegiate setters.

A fiery and intense player who sweats as much as he sets, the 6-foot-4 lefty has accepted an athletic scholarship to Cal State Northridge.

“He makes people around him better because he gives them so much confidence, and that’s a big part of a setter,” said Highland Coach Mike Bird, whose team was swept by Royal in the second round of the playoffs.

For his part, Baxter, a three-time All-Marmonte League selection, is humble.

“I think I’m very overrated, honestly,” he said. “It’s hard for me to look bad with five of the best hitters in the nation on my team. I just have to toss the ball up in the right position.”

Apparently, Baxter was good enough for Northridge Coach John Price.

“He might feel overrated, but I think he’s underrating the ability to [set],” Price said. “It’s unusual for a high school kid to have the ability to throw the ball in the right position, to quote him.”

Baxter’s intensity and leadership also appealed to Price, who said Baxter was the first high school setter the Matadors recruited since the early 1990s, bucking their recent trend to rely on transfers.

Fine with Baxter.

“It had to be the shortest recruiting process [Price] ever went through,” Baxter said. “He said, ‘Do you want to play for us?’ I said, ‘Yes.’

“He sent me the [letter of intent] papers and I sent them right back.”

Now if only men’s volleyball can avoid the chopping block at Northridge, which is a possibility in their quest for gender equity.

“I’m still thinking positive,” Baxter said, “and living life for volleyball.”