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Volleyball Round-up:
The Coaches Are Grinning
RICHARD PEARL
Special to The Jewish News
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44
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1992
oach Mike Sopko is
tickled pink.
Last year, he says,
was the best season ever for
his West Bloomfield High
School girls volleyball team.
"This year, I believe, is the
best team ever," he says.
What's the difference?
While the 1991 Lakers won
their league championship
with their best ever season -
47 victories, 5 losses, 2 ties,
including a phenomenal
21-match win-streak - this
year's Lakers are 34-3-4 so far
with a much harder schedule.
By Monday, the '92 Lakers
were 8-0 in the Metro Subur-
ban Activities Association
(MSAA), rated No. 1 in
Oakland County and No. 3 in
Michigan - and have a
chance to catch the '91 crew.
Other schools doing well in-
clude Oak Park, 7-0 in the
Suburban Athletic Con-
ference (SAC) and North Far-
mington, 2-1 in the Western
Division of the Western Lakes
Activities Association.
The Lakers' early schedule
this season included a tourna-
ment at Portage Northern, "a
mecca of volleyball which
always draws some of the best
teams in the state," says
Sopko. "I'm pleased with the
(level of) competition this
year."
Sopko, a graduate of West
Bloomfield schools in his 10th
year as Lakers varsity coach,
says this year's crew is "a
good, balanced team. We don't
have any all-stars. We're very
scrappy. We hustle - we've
got a bunch of over-achievers."
The team's stand-out is
Anita Grinbergs, senior out-
side hitter. On Jan. 18, she
led the team to second place
in the Wayne State Invita-
tional, with her Lakers bow-
ing in the title match 15-7,
15-9 to the Windsor Brennan
Club Team of all-stars. For the
tourney, however, Grinbergs
tallied 34 spikes and made 75
of 76 serves, including 10
aces, and 35 digs, on her way
to earning the tourney's Most
Valuable Player award.
Grinbergs, fellow senior
Kristen Barnes and Grin-
bergs' younger sister, junior
Larisa Grinbergs, are the
team's leaders in spikes (or
kills). The team's other three
returning letter-winners from
last year are setter Kelly Top-
per, a senior, and Robyn Bass
and Kata DeBruyn, two good
Bowling Results
B'NAI B'RITH MEN
Ben Lusky, Traveling
Howie Gerenraich 288-233-205/918,
Dean Fine 255-221/825, Barry
Schlussel 240-227-202/826, Phil
Horowitz 236-222/825, Cy Rott
234-214, Wayne Lusky
232-225-223-215/895, Mickey Aronoff
232-216, Mort Friedman 232, Shel
Onickel 224, Rick Woolman 220,
Mitch Lefton 219, Ron Walton
217-200, Bruce Weberman 215,
Howard Davidoff 210,204, Alan
Oleinick 203, Joe Silver 202, Rick
Piskow 201.
Brotherhood/Eddie Jacobson
Sandy Mandell 240, Ron Weintraub
235-204, Bruce Weberman
234-200/606, Jeff Radner 233, Mike
Lieberman 230, Gary Klinger 228,
Jerry Isenberg 226, Ira Saperstein
225, Howard Levin 225, Dave
Radner 224, Dennis Eder 223, Les
Schultz 219, Larry Woodberg 215.
Zeiger/Gross
Milt Burg 243, Max Epstein 225,
Iry Simons 215-202/611, Rob
Pliskow 209, Jeff Moss 203, Jim
Boschan 202, Jason Cohen 200,
Seymour Burg 200.
Morgenthau-L'Chaim
Marty Diskin 246-212/634, Bob
Essick 245-201/643, Jerry Broida
229, Ron White 224, Fred Imber 223,
Hal Lempert 222, Dennis Kay
221-100, Lou Wechsler 220, Marshall
Spinner 216, Mike Berkowitz 214,
Ron Lustig 213-204, Bob Franklin
211-209/604, Jerry Gilbert 210, Mike
Jeross 209, Marty Bordoley 201, Bob
Hechler 200.
Downtown/Fox
Steve Kay 216-207, Mel Toby 216, Ken
Gould 215, Howard Spinner 212, Mel
Case 212, Steve Velick 211-209, Mike
Downes 209, Marc Wermuth 206,
Gary Siegel 205, Sy Zate 202, Ami
Reiter 202, Marlin Hoffman 200.
Renaissance
Sander Papo 222, Rober Karnow
213, Mike Lachman 201, Arnold
Levine 200.
Mix and Match
Mike Reiter, 192, Brett Chudler 179.
Pisgah
Jeff Eisenberg 239-220/623, Aaron
Kales 235-226/611, Neil Lefton 235,
Jay Guttman 234, Mort Friedman
233, Benj Nathan 231/615, Gary
Greenberg 230, Eric Weiss 227,
Barry Roffman 225-204, Ron Good-
man 225-200, Larry Horn 224, Larry
Gerstein 222-211/602, Yale Weiner
216-210/601, Joe Burnstein 216,
Mitch Lefton 212, Mark Schwartz
212, Steve Tunis 211, Mike
Bloomberg 211.
JEWISH WAR VETERANS
Allen Klegon 244, Morton Margolis
243/611, Steven Ritten 231-203/608,
Bernard Harwood 219, Sheldon
Rakotz 205, Donald Morton 203,
Marvin Epstein 201, David Margolis
201-200, Edward Burg 200, Steven
Hoberman 200.
TEMPLE ISRAEL BROTHERHOOD
Gary Fink 234, Neil Lefton 227/616,
Wally Littman 226, Gary Greenstein
225, 595, Jerry Rubin 215/601.
servers and defensive
specialists who provide bench
strength.
Winning is something Oak
Park's volleyball teams are
known for: they haven't lost a
game in Suburban Athletic
Conference play in four years,
which is how long former St.
Martin DePorres coach Larry
Gipson has been at the
Knights' helm.
With the addition of Louis
Parker, former Detroit
Benedictine head coach, as
Oak Park's first-ever junior
varsity coach, Gipson's goal
now is to "build a program,
rather than rebuild a team
each year." Gipson thanks
Knights athletic director
Howard Stone for his support
and encouragement.
Despite early-season SAC
victories over River Rouge,
Dearborn Heights Robichaud
and Inkster and a starting
lineup of three seniors and
three juniors, the coach says
this year's Oak Park team is
inexperienced, but improving.
Starters are captain
LaTonya Smith, Nichole
Buckner and Dena Warren,
all seniors, and juniors Ja-
neen Glenn, Kim McClinton
and LaJoya Jackson.
Among the Oak Park subs
is Amy Berkowitz, a 5-3
senior back-row player who,
like most of the other
reserves, sees considerably
less playing time than do the
taller, more talented starters.
In fact, Gipson almost drop-
ped then-freshman Berkowitz
from the team. But the
. spirited youngster told the
coach, "You can't cut me. If
you do, I'll go somewhere else
and play against you and
you'll be sorry. Give me a
chance and I'll improve."
Berkowitz played in the
1990 Detroit Maccabi Youth
Games and that really made
a difference in her playing
and attitude says her coach.
At Farmington Harrison,
junior middle-blocker and hit-
ter Julie Heist is described by
Coach Ron Short as "a key to
our defense."
The team's record of 12-12-6
"is pretty good for us because
we've had a couple of dry
seasons" - including three
victories last year. "We're a
young team, so I'm really
pleased with the way we're
going," says Short.
Harrison has three seniors
- Jodi Whitehead, Denee
Pinzl and Jill Mineweaser. A
sophomore, Amanda Ault, is
"an exceptional hitter," says
the coach.
.