Windward Spikers Shine in All-Star Exhibition

The high school season ended three weeks ago, but Windward volleyball players Chase and Drew Pion and Ryan Manoogian are always up for a good game.

Along with Wildcats Coach Michelle McGuire, the trio was invited to participate in the first Westside Boys Volleyball All-Star Exhibition on Wednesday night at Santa Monica High School.

Organized on a whim by Santa Monica High Coach Liane Sato, the event gave 16 of the best players representing five area programs one last chance to showcase their skills before starting summer vacation. 

Blue and gold teams were formed and each eight-man roster was a mixture of players from different schools, giving teammates a unique opportunity to play against each other.

Manoogian and Chase Pion played on the gold team, piloted by Beverly Hills High Coach Jonathan Ramin. Chase's younger brother Drew played for the blue team, coached by McGuire. 

"I thought we were going to be on the same team, but they switched it up," said Drew Pion, the only freshman on either squad. "It was fun playing against Chase for once."

Pion and the blue team won the first two games, 25-22, 25-23, but the gold team stormed back to sweep the last three, 25-16, 26-24, 15-9. McGuire was thrilled to be a part of it.

"You have to give all the credit to Lian [Sato] for putting this together," McGuire said. "She e-mailed me and asked if I wanted to be one of the coaches and I was like 'Heck yeah!' She knows the game really well and obviously the teams were evenly matched. It was a good send-off for the seniors."

Though no official stats were kept, Manoogian was clearly one of the standouts, hammering kill after kill off sets from Wildcats teammate Chase Pion, just as he did all season long.

Pion ran gold's offense expertly, setting Santa Monica senior Charles Levy for thunderous spikes to end the fourth and fifth sets. Rounding out the gold team were Trevor Pye and Eric Barber of Santa Monica, Alex Aguilera of Culver City, Jake Hurwitz of Crossroads and Joshua Johnson of Beverly Hills.

Drew Pion impressed his older blue teammates, especially Santa Monica senior opposite hitter Jack Cramer, who played against Pion in the Vikings' Southern Section Division 4 semifinal victory. 

"I don't play club, so I hadn't played with any of those guys before except for [Samo teammate] Julian Hess," Cramer said. "Drew was doing everything out there."

Rounding out the blue team were Daniel Tabariai and Jason Nik of Beverly Hills, Andy Aguila and Kekoa Mathews of Culver City and Taylor Moldo of Crossroads. 

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