San Diego Seaside Club Wins Junior Olympic Volleyball Title

Led by tournament MVP Matt Noonan and All-Americans Matt Suttie and Robert Treahy, San Diego’s Seaside Volleyball Club won its first U.S. Volleyball Assn. Junior Olympic national championship Friday in Albuquerque.

Seaside, coached by University City High Coach Mike Baykal, edged Puerto Rico, 15-13, in a one-game title playoff after Puerto Rico advanced from the losers’ bracket and beat Seaside, 15-7, 16-14, to force the extra game.

Seaside advanced by beating Puerto Rico, 4-15, 15-2, 15-9, in the winners’ bracket final.

There were 75 teams entered in the double-elimination tournament, including one from Canada, which finished third. Malibu was fourth.

Seaside finished second in 1990 and ninth last year.

“This is the happiest day of my life,” Seaside director Fred Featherstone said. “This is an incredible accomplishment for these kids.”

Noonan, who will attend UCLA in the fall on scholarship, and Suttie, who is bound for Cal State Long Beach, played for San Pasqual this spring. Treahy, who received a scholarship to UC Santa Barbara, played at Mt. Carmel.

The rest of the 10-member team: Scott Eide (University City); Monty Smith (Hilltop); Mike Downey (Helix); Richard Lambourne (Serra); Mark Danenhauer (La Jolla); Travis Hume (Grossmont); and Peter Buletza (Monte Vista).