He Proved a Heavyweight in Middle

Everyone knew the ball was going to Cam Dickson.

How could it not?

Dickson, Royal High middle blocker, was pounding kill after kill against Loyola in the championship of the Redondo tournament.

With the Highlanders on the brink of winning the match, there were no secrets as to where the volleyball was to be set.

“I was yelling, ‘Middle, middle,’ ” said Royal Coach Bob Ferguson, who got his wish and saw the result when Dickson did what he always did.

“He’s the kill-master,” Ferguson said.

Dickson, a senior, also is The Times’ Valley / Ventura County player of the year.

He set a school record with 396 kills this season, breaking the old mark of 392 set in 1993 by Jason Hughes, who went on to play at Cal State Northridge.

Dickson led Royal with 76 blocks, was second with 41 aces and was second with 141 digs, a surprising amount for a middle blocker.

“For a big middle, that’s unusual,” Ferguson said. “Very unusual.”

The emergence of Dickson, who had a limited role on a senior-dominated team last season, began in an early match against Harvard-Westlake, considered one of the top teams in Southern California before the season.

Dickson smothered the Wolverines by delivering 22 kills, some of them inside the 10-foot line, and Royal won in four games.

“There were a lot of good players over there, but we had a lot of good players too,” Dickson said. “We weren’t intimidated by them at all.”

That mentality carried the Highlanders throughout the season.

They finished second in the early-season Dos Pueblos tournament, losing to Loyola in the championship match, but avenged that loss at the Redondo tournament with a 15-5, 10-15, 15-12 championship victory.

Dickson had 24 kills and seven blocks, providing an even match against Stanford-bound middle blocker Curt Toppel, who finished with 19 kills and five blocks.

Dickson was selected the tournament most valuable player, the first Royal player to win the honor, and Royal vaulted into the top spot of the Southern Section Division I poll.

The Highlanders’ season didn’t end on the highest note--they lost a five-game semifinal match to Corona del Mar--but it marked only the second time they advanced that far in the Division I playoffs.

The 6-foot-4 Dickson, an All-Southern Section Division I selection and Marmonte League player of the year, has signed with Cal State Northridge.

“He’s ready for the next level,” Ferguson said. “We’ve had kids that have left here and physically they were ready, but emotionally they weren’t. You talk to Cam and you see his composure. He’s an emotional kid, yet he’s mature enough to handle things well.

“You know he’s going to get nothing but better. He’s going to be nothing but an asset to Northridge.”