Fuerbringer’s high volleyball IQ helps her ace tests for Mira Costa
Cam Green could feel the frustration mounting, his Manhattan Beach Mira Costa players not quite finding a groove in passing drills.
So at one practice late in the season, the coach pulled his passers aside and delivered a simple message: You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be close.
“Because we have the setter,” Green recalled telling his team, “that can make everything else better.”
It’s a heavy burden for one player to carry. But Mira Costa junior Charlie Fuerbringer was born with an Olympian’s athleticism and grew up a student of the game, developing a volleyball IQ that must be seen to be believed. For her unparalleled importance to a Mira Costa program that advanced to a CIF Open Division regional final, she’s been selected The Times’ player of the year in girls’ volleyball.
Those intangibles, in large part, come from a family of volleyball royalty.
Her father, Matt Fuerbringer, was a pro beach player and All-American at Stanford who currently serves as an assistant for the U.S. men’s national team. Her mother, Joy Fuerbringer, was an All-American setter and coach at Long Beach State. Uncle David McKienzie played for the U.S. national team at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
“Just being surrounded by the culture … growing up with that knowledge helps so much with my IQ,” Fuerbringer said.
She’s a brilliant setter, making hitters around her better by putting balls in perfect spots or confusing opposing blockers with back-taps. But the 5-foot-11 Fuerbringer also flashed a dominant all-around game this season, stepping up for key blocks and serves in close games.
When Mira Costa ran up against L.A. Marymount early in the season, a team it hadn’t beaten in Green’s five-year tenure, there was Fuerbringer stepping up and stuffing a hit from mighty Marymount outside hitter Torrey Stafford. When the Mustangs were down 2214 in the fourth set of what seemed like an imminent loss to Redondo Union, there was Fuerbringer to lead a comeback and seal the set with a monster block.
“She’s got sort of a mode in her that says, ‘You’re just not going to beat me today,’ ” Green said.
Mira Costa fell one match short of its goal to take home a Southern Section title, Chatsworth Sierra Canyon sweeping it for the Division 1 crown. But after beating the Trailblazers in the Open Division regional semifinal, the Mustangs did what no other team could this year: take a set off a great San Diego Cathedral team in the regional final.
Green told Fuerbringer on several occasions she can leave Mira Costa — a program that’s produced Olympians such as Holly McPeak — as the greatest player in school history.
“I know that’s a giant statement and some people might freak out at that,” Green said, “but I can’t think of a player that can do all of the things she can do.”