ALL-EVERYTHING KUCHENBECKER FINDS TIME TO HELP CARRY HARVARD-WESTLAKE.Byline: Rich Hammond Rich Hammond Los Angeles Daily News sports writer. Instrumental in bringing the Los Angeles Kings hockey organization closer to the fans. He is the atypical "what a guy" to Kings fans everywhere. Rich Hammond on himself. Staff Writer Between her four advanced-placement classes, her volunteer work at a kennel for guide dogs for the blind This article is about the guide dog school in the United States. For the British charitable organization, see The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. Guide Dogs for the Blind , art and music classes and work with the National Charity League, Karalyn Kuchenbecker found just enough time to be one of the most dominating volleyball players This is a list of top international volleyball players. : Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A
A good night's rest often eludes Kuchenbecker, a senior outside hitter for Harvard-Westlake High of Studio City, but her play over the past three years certainly hasn't suffered. ``She never complains, but sometimes you can see it in her eyes, just how tired she really is,'' coach Jess Quiroz said. ``You just look at her, and you know she has to be dog tired, but it's just mentally tiring, not physically tiring.'' Kuchenbecker, who will graduate as a three-time Daily News first-team selection, has won three Southern Section championships in her four years on the Harvard-Westlake varsity and will go for her second consecutive state championship Saturday when the Wolverines face El Molino of Forestville at Cypress College Cypress College is a community college located in Cypress, California. Opened on September 12 1966 , the southern California college offers a variety of general education (51 associates degrees), transfer courses (58 transfer majors), and 139 vocational programs leading to at 1:30 p.m. The only problem is, there will be some lonely dogs on Topanga Canyon Boulevard on Saturday. Since her sophomore year, Kuchenbecker has helped groom and care for guide dogs at a kennel north of Malibu, one of the many extra-curricular activities she enjoys when volleyball and schoolwork allow, mostly on the weekends. ``I guess I'm a pretty organized person,'' Kuchenbecker said with a laugh. ``I know what I have to do, and I make sure it gets done. I just try to take as many naps as I can before games.'' Kuchenbecker is not an overachiever o·ver·a·chieve intr.v. o·ver·a·chieved, o·ver·a·chiev·ing, o·ver·a·chieves To perform better or achieve more success than expected. o who flaunts her success in the faces of her peers, as she seems almost embarrassed to discuss her busy schedule. But her classmates Classmates can refer to either:
``Actually, most of them don't even know I play volleyball,'' Kuchenbecker said. ``If I have a big game, sometimes somebody will come up to me and say, `Congratulations,' and I'll say, `For what?' '' The multitalented Kuchenbecker always has had diverse interests. As a child, she played five musical instruments and developed her love for art. She also played soccer, basketball, football, softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' and tennis. Football? ``We would go to camp every year, and I would play with my brother,'' Kuchenbecker said. ``I did swimming during the summer, too. I used to go from school volleyball to club volleyball to soccer practice, and I had to stop playing basketball after the sixth grade because the sports overlapped.'' Kuchenbecker stuck with volleyball, which is unfortunate for the teams that have had to play Harvard-Westlake. She made varsity as a freshman but played sparingly spar·ing adj. 1. Given to or marked by prudence and restraint in the use of material resources. 2. Deficient or limited in quantity, fullness, or extent. 3. Forbearing; lenient. as a deep Harvard- Westlake team won the section championship. Still, Quiroz knew what he had in Kuchenbecker and another freshman, middle blocker Courtney Schultz. ``They were almost at the level of (the starting players) even back then,'' Quiroz said. ``You just knew that they were can't-miss players.'' As a sophomore, Kuchenbecker helped the Wolverines reach the section final, where they lost to Bishop Montgomery of Torrance. Since then, the Wolverines have been far and away the most dominant team in Division III
Division III (or DIII) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association of the United States. . By all accounts, Kuchenbecker, who scored a 1310 on the SAT last spring, should have colleges begging for her to sign a letter of intent. But some coaches seem to be leery of her height, as 5-foot-10 is considered somewhat undersized undersized see dwarfism, runt. for a college outside hitter. Kuchenbecker has a nice fall-back option. Sometime during her winter vacation Winter vacation has been proposed in modern times (the 20th and 21st centuries) as a more practical alternative to summer vacation in areas that have harsh winters and mild summers. , she will take an official trip to Princeton. ``It's absolutely ridiculous,'' Quiroz said of the trepidation trepidation /trep·i·da·tion/ (trep?i-da´shun) 1. tremor. 2. nervous anxiety and fear.trep´idant trep·i·da·tion n. 1. An involuntary trembling or quivering. of some coaches. ``There are players out there on Division I teams who can't hold a candle to Karalyn. If you want to build a winning program, you want someone like her on your team. ``Not only that, but she has such great (jumping ability) and she can come at you from so many different angles at the net.'' Her college prospects don't seem to be causing Kuchenbecker stress. Quiroz said he thinks she would like to stay in California - ``she likes to stay in shorts,'' the coach said - and in the hours before Saturday's state final, Kuchenbecker will put the final touches on her University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). application. ``It really doesn't bother me right now,'' Kuchenbecker said. ``I'll figure it out in time, but it's not wearing on me or anything.'' AT A GLANCE What: State Division III girls' volleyball championship Who: Harvard-Westlake of Studio City (20-9) vs. El Molino of Forestville (28-7). When: Saturday, 1:30 p.m., at Cypress College. What's at stake: Harvard-Westlake goes for its second consecutive state championship. An era will end, too, as outside hitter Karalyn Kuchenbecker and middle blockers Courtney Schultz and Terbrie Taylor play their final match for the Wolverines. Harvard-Westlake has not dropped a game in seven playoff matches. Forestville is approximately 70 miles north of San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden . CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: KUCHENBECKER Box: AT A GLANCE |
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