LA Times Story: Incoming MH Bryce Danker

http://www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/la-spw-hsdanker13jun13,0,3672665.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-highschool

From the Los Angeles Times
TIMES' BOYS' VOLLEYBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Esperanza's Danker raises animals, and his game
By Lauren Peterson
Times Staff Writer

June 13, 2007

Whether it's raising livestock or playing volleyball, Bryce Danker has high expectations for himself.

So far, he has met them all.

A long-time 4-H Club member, the Anaheim Esperanza senior middle blocker had auctioned three grand-champion rabbits at a fair for $1,500 a couple of years ago.

"It's one of my favorite things to do. I like it even more than volleyball," Danker said. "I like the animals, and the people just have different values, different views. It's kind of old-style — a whole different world."

Danker, who also tends to a steer, two baby cows, 20 pigs and assorted chickens being raised at his parents' and his grandmother's homes and has banked about $7,000 for college through livestock sales over the years, has shown he is just as comfortable in the world of athletics.

During the recently completed season, the 6-foot-6 Danker led the second-seeded Aztecs (29-4) to the Southern Section Division I championship by recording 17 kills in a hard-fought 22-25, 25-19, 25-23, 18-25, 15-13 victory over top-seeded Manhattan Beach Mira Costa in the final match May 26 at Cerritos College.

"Nobody was stopping him. He couldn't be stopped," Esperanza Coach Isaac Owens said. "Everybody in the gym knew it was going to him, and they still couldn't stop him."

Danker, who was selected Division I co-player of the year with teammate James Anderson, also had 16 kills in a 24-26, 25-20, 28-26, 22-25, 15-11 victory over Santa Ana Mater Dei in the semifinals, and registered 10 kills in a 25-21, 25-9, 20-25, 25-21 victory over North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake in the quarterfinals.

For his efforts, Danker has been named The Times' 2007 boys' volleyball player of the year.

"I knew it was time for me to step up," he said. "We knew all along that we had the talent and that we could win it, we just had to go out and prove it to ourselves."

Before winning the Division I title, Esperanza won the Orange County Championships and took the title in the Sunset League, generally considered the toughest in boys' volleyball in the Southern Section, with a perfect record.

"Once we did that, we knew what we could do," Danker said. "Going 10-0 kind of set us apart."

With their first section title since 2002, the Aztecs also proved that an 18th-place showing at an early-season tournament in San Diego had been a turning point.

"It sort of took us playing bad to turn things around," said Danker, who will attend UC Irvine. "It was kind of a wake-up call, but every game out from the San Diego tournament, everybody was on top of their games."

Especially Danker.

"It was growing pains early on, just trying to find the right combinations," said Owens, Division I coach of the year. "I think people knew we had some talent, but a lot of people questioned, 'Who's going to be the guy?' "

They found out in the season's home stretch.

"Bryce, he definitely stepped it up at the end," Owens said. "You want to be at your best at the end. We were, and he was the difference, or, he was a big part of the difference for us."