Is it possible for the undefeated league champion to not have
the best player or players in the league? And, if that team
’s players are so overlooked, doesn’t that mean its coach is
head and shoulders above the rest?
Is it possible for the undefeated league champion to not have the best player or players in the league?
And, if that team’s players are so overlooked, doesn’t that mean its coach is head and shoulders above the rest?
Live Oak High’s boys volleyball team was left to ponder those questions after a dominant regular season culminated in a bittersweet postseason, highlighted by the Tri-County Athletic League awards.
Not only did Live Oak, which lost in the first round of the section playoffs, lose out on the TCAL’s Most Valuable Player award to a player on a team that finished a distant second to the Acorns (Alisal senior Omar Rios), but first-year coach James Uthes had to share the TCAL Coach of the Year with Alisal’s Mio Nishimura.
Uthes said he was particularly puzzled by the MVP snub, especially considering Live Oak’s 6-foot-9 senior Chris Deem was clearly the most dominant player in the league.
“I’m really, really surprised that (Deem) didn’t get the MVP,” Uthes said. “I’d take him on even a bad day over anyone else. It was politics basically.”
Despite the snub, Deem and teammates Cameron Bassett, a senior, and Royce Newcomb, a junior, earned All-league first team honors.
Also earning recognition for the Acorns were all-league second-teamers Ryan Siebert and Michael Strockis, and honorable mention recipients Jordan Burdick, Dan Adams and Matt Medeiros.
Medeiros was also named the winner of the team’s Sportsmanship Award.
Uthes said his big three first-teamers all played a special role in the team’s success as it compiled a perfect 14-0 league record (23-4 overall) this season.
Deem, a middle blocker who battled a shoulder injury this season, was consistently the team’s leader in kills and blocks, and often turned matches around with his intimidating presence at the net.
Uthes said Deem suffered a serious shoulder injury during a match against Monterey but refused to come oout of the lineup. Even though he couldn’t spike the ball because of his shoulder, he told Uthes he could still block. Live Oak won the match easily.
“The guy never complained and he always wanted playing time,” Uthes said. He never missed a practice. He was a leader.”
Bassett, an outside hitter in his first starting season at the varsity level, got better as the season went on, Uthes said.
“He really came on at the end of the season,” Uthes said. “He started out getting about seven or eight kills per match, but at the end of the season he averaged about 14 kills per match. He came up big for us.”
Newcomb, a second-year varsity starter who is one of two club players on the team, was widely regarded as the team’s most all-around talented player. Newcomb consistently led the team in kills early in the season. He is the Acorns’ lone returning All-TCAL first-teamer.
Siebert, a left-handed senior opposite, and Strockis, a senior middle blocker, also had their standout moments during the season, Uthes said.
Burdick, a senior who took over as the team’s full-time setter this season, and juniors Medeiros and Adams were also among the team’s best performers in key matches, Uthes said.
