Another Shot for Strickland

Bill Strickland sounds distracted.

He gives quick one-word answers. Utters a few phrases in agreement. He makes it easy to sense the lack of depth in the telephone conversation he’s having.

Strickland, a 6-foot-9 outside hitter who just graduated from Harvard-Westlake, finally confesses--he’s playing a video game. And he’s getting creamed by longtime friend Curt Toppel.

Bigger things soon will be at stake for Strickland, who, along with Toppel, is playing for the L.A. Athletic Club boys’ volleyball team.

The pinnacle of the club volleyball season, the Junior Nationals (formerly the Junior Olympics), begins two weeks from today in New Orleans, with L.A. Athletic Club expected to compete for a gold medal.

Winning gold would help erase the disappointment Strickland felt this season at Harvard-Westlake.

Soaring preseason expectations quickly fell when the Wolverines lost an early match to Royal. Then they lost twice to rival Loyola--and Toppel--during Mission League play.

Harvard-Westlake’s season ended in the Southern Section Division I quarterfinals with a loss to Corona del Mar.

“We feel sort of like we expected more from ourselves, more from our team,” Strickland said. “We expected to go further. But that season’s over.”

L.A. Athletic Club, despite the presence of other quality players--including Richard Nelson of Alemany--lost to Balboa Bay Club in the championship of the Southern California Volleyball Assn. tournament on Monday, a misstep that could prove to be a valuable lesson.

“This sort of wakes me up,” Strickland said. “We stubbed our toe, but I think it’ll be a good thing.”

Expect L.A. Athletic Club to recover and challenge in the Junior Nationals.

Said Strickland: “We know we can do it. We should do it.”

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L.A. Athletic Club won’t be the only boys’ volleyball team at Junior Nationals with local flavor.

Team L.A., formerly Sport Shack, has a chance for a strong tournament showing.

Chris Gorny, who recently graduated from Littlerock and has signed with Brigham Young, is the offensive focal point, though Marcin Jagoda of Crespi has been playing very well.

Jagoda was particularly impressive in a match against Shorebreak, a team from San Diego, at the SCVA tournament.

“He must have had 20 kills and one hitting error,” Coach Alvin Lamarre of Team L.A. said. “They just couldn’t stop him.”

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The Renegades, the best girls’ volleyball club in the region, have some performance standards to measure up to.

Last year, with setter Brooke Rundle of Westlake, Southern Section Division II player of the year, the Renegades finished second at the Junior Nationals.

Rundle has moved on to UC Santa Barbara and middle blocker Sherisa Livingston of Royal is at Wisconsin.

Worried? Not Courtney Guerra, Division I player of the year at Royal last season.

The 5-foot-11 outside hitter returns for the Renegades, who won the Colorado Crossroads tournament in March and will play in the Junior Nationals, which begin Tuesday for the girls.

“Any team would miss Brooke Rundle, but I’m still comfortable with this team,” said California-bound Guerra. “We showed what we had in Colorado.”

The Renegades have been hit by a spate of injuries and lost in April to Ichiban, a team with several players from Cerritos Valley Christian, a dominant high school team last year.

But a rematch in New Orleans could provide a different outcome.

“If we meet them in the finals with us 100%, I think we have a very good chance of finishing first,” Guerra said. “We should at least hold our own.”

Other Renegades include Brooke Niles of Calabasas (who has signed with UC Santa Barbara), Lauren Killian of Marlborough (USC), Teresa Russell of Royal (San Francisco) and Krystal McFarland, who will be a senior at Buena.

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The Southern California Shilos under-16 softball team qualified for the American Fastpitch Assn. national tournament in Kansas by winning the California state championship in Moorpark last weekend.

Pitchers Tara Barker (Moorpark High), Monique Lovell (Montclair Prep) and Kristen Ward (La Reina) combined for 35 innings without allowing an earned run.

Monica Thompson of La Reina led the team with a .500 batting average.

Staff writers Mike Bresnahan and Eric Sondheimer contributed to this notebook.