June 1986 Volleyball Monthly

ON THE MONEY
Tiger now has an even bigger bite
hey may still conduct the LJSVBA
TJunior Olympic Championship in
June, hut the winner in the 17 & under
division has pretty much been decided.
You can mail the trophy in now.
Address it to l iger, care of Coach Mollie
Kavanagh in Santa Tc Springs, Calif.
Already the top team in junior club
volleyball, l iger has gotten a transfusion
of additional talent, and is now so far
out in front that the rest of the field
couldn’t sec them with a telescope.
As if Kcba Phipps, Yleanna Carrasco
and Missy Kurt weren’t enough, l iger
has succeeded in landing none other
Dennis Steers
rh* hoot
■
Coach Mollie Kavanagh’s Tiger team looks like the team to beat.
Dennis Steers
Tiger’s tough Yleanna Carrasco.
than Megan McCallister, the Volleyball
Monthly All-American middle blocker
from Mira Costa and the Santa Monica
VBC. How this came about is a unique
story. Although Santa Monica is a junior
club, with all junior age players, the
club’s first team (Megan’s team) only
played in SCAB Open competition
against adult teams. That team is
disbanding immediately after the LISV'BA
Open Nationals in mid-May. At that time,
those players, including Megan, arc no
longer sanctioned, no longer bound to a
team, because that team played “open’’
ball and the “open” season is over.
McCallister thus becomes a classic free
agent. And just like free agents in
baseball, she was sought after. Both
Tiger and Ichiban put the full scale rush
on her, getting her to attend and check
out their practices. Tiger won the
recruiting derby, and probably nailed
down the national championship at the
same time.
The team is now solid at every
By Jess Money
position, with outstanding blocking,
power, defense, and ball control, plus
Kurt's top-notch ball delivery. Given the
double-elimination format of the J.O.’s, if
anybody upsets Tiger for the title it will
be as monumental as the Jets' win over
the Colts in the '69 Super Bowl.
It is also interesting to speculate how
the Santa Monica breakup might affect
other teams. Could it be that some of
the other players, such as Tiffany
Rochelle, Lindsay Hahn and Melissa
McNally, might end up on other teams,
thus tipping the balance in the fight for
second, third, fourth, etc. at both the
J.O.’s and Vollevball Festival?
■
Back before the McCallister coup.
Tiger hopped a flight to Chicago for a
special tournament hosted by John
Trojaniak and Windy City’. In the
semifinals. Tiger beat Chicago Power
1 5-6, 15-12. while Sports Performance
was downing Windy City North 15-11.
15-1.5. Sports Performance then grabbed
the first game of the finals, 15-10, and
had a commanding 8-1 lead in the
second game. But that’s when Tiger got
20
June 1986 VOLLEYBALL MONTHLY