LJ b VB: No. 8 in nation

By Ed Piper

La Jolla's boys volleyball team, led by junior All-CIF middle hitter-blocker Nathaniel Gates, won three matches in the past week and is now ranked number eight in the nation.

Coach Dave Jones' squad, in the process, upped its overall record for the season to 16-4.

The pieces for this year's squad, which reigns as the defending CIF Open Division champion--the first-ever Open Division title in the history of the school--began to fall into place when 6'7" Gabe Vargas was able to successfully transfer back to the school this spring.

In the "land of tall trees", Vargas' presence was assured when he was able to establish eligibility in time for CIF play only a short time before the season began.

Along with the 6'7" Gates, who stunned observers with his stellar performance last year as a sophomore, Vargas gives Jones an intimidating front line at the net to complement an outstanding back line.

Gabe, who was able to make up credits at a separate institution before returning, hits lefty from the right side of the line.

The Vikings feature seasoned setters Berkeley Miesfield and Luke Lentin, both seniors. Lentin, who has played on the varsity since he was a freshman three years ago, also lines up at outside hitter. The libero is another senior, Grant Starsiak.

La Jolla's latest victims include Western League rivals Francis Parker (away Tues., April 3), Point Loma (at home Thurs., April 5), and University City (away Fri., April 6).

In 14 of the Vikings' 20 matches, tournament or regular, they have swept game counts of 3-0 or 2-0 without losing a game.

Jones and his coaching staff have accomplished all this despite scaling down to a three-coach configuration, at times spread thin when the varsity and junior varsity have played on the same day. This happened recently when, before a varsity match later in the afternoon, Gates, Vargas, and other varsity players manned the scoring table and corners for a JV match in the Small Gym on campus. Jones arrived in time for the match, coached the underclassmen, then returned to the Big Gym later for the varsity contest.