Sept. 21, 2007

Note: This story originally ran in the Santa Barbara News-Press on September 21, 2007.

Debbie Green has done it all in volleyball, from winning a silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games to helping coach Long Beach State to the national championship.

And then there's that other gig of serving as a family referee.

Those are the dues you pay when your two daughters also join the club of competitive volleyball.

Freshman setter Dana Vargas of UCSB and her sister Nicole -- Mom's junior setter at Long Beach -- will renew their sibling rivalry on Saturday when the 49ers visit the Thunderdome for a 7 p.m. match. The Gauchos will also face Cal State Northridge tonight in their Big West Conference opener.

"When they played for the same high school -- oh my goodness! -- you'd think they were playing against each other," said Green, who has been Brian Gimmillaro's assistant coach at Long Beach for the last 22 seasons. "They were both so competitive."

Dana and Nicole played two years together on the Lakewood St. Joseph High varsity, leading the Jesters to the CIF Division 3-AA semifinals in 2004. But their road to glory had as many bumps as sets.

"It was hard because we're two totally different kinds of players, and with different personalities, too," Dana said. "We didn't really get along at the time.

"But that all changed once Nicole went to college and was in the dorms and we weren't together 24/7 anymore. It's funny, because Nicole is now one of my best friends."

There were times in high school when their sisterly competition made for comic relief in the Vargas household. They rotated between the setting and opposite-hitting positions in St. Joseph's 6-2 offense, and Green recalled the morning when the local newspaper listed Dana's hitting statistics in a Jesters' victory.

"Dana said, 'Hey, look! I had twice as many kills as you did!' " Green said. "But Nicole just looked up and said, 'Well, that's only because I set you twice as much as you set me.' "

Nicole was considered to be a real natural, just like her mother. She was on USA Volleyball's Junior National Training Squad in 2004 and made the USA Volleyball Junior National A2 team the following year.

She was voted as the Big West Conference's first-team setter last year while only a sophomore.

"We have the same technique but totally different styles," Dana said. "Nicole is very athletic -- she's a lot faster than me, sprinting-wise, and she can jump higher than me. She's a real graceful jumper and athlete.

"But people say I'm more feisty. It's like my body might not be as athletic, but I'll fight to get that ball."

Mom takes the comparison even farther, describing Dana as a more vocal leader.

"Nicole wasn't put in a leadership role at a young age because she was both hitting and setting, and she was often the youngest player on an older team," Green said. "Dana, on the other hand, was always the setter and the leader, so she knows the role, and she's always been confident in herself."

UCSB coach Kathy Gregory often flashes back to the days she faced Green as a player when she watches Dana play.

"She sets more like Debbie than Nicole does," she said. "A lot of it is in her body-start position and in her release. She takes the ball high and knows how to run an offense, and I see a lot of the same body mannerisms as her mom.

"Dana also has that quality of Debbie's -- of being so humble and such a team player. I see a lot of Debbie out there."

The Vargas girls come from athletic stock: Their father, Joseph Vargas, also won a silver medal at the 1984 Olympics as a water polo player.

"We swam and did Junior Guards, but Dad didn't want us to play water polo -- he wanted us to play volleyball," Dana said. "He was so great in the sport, too. He was just amazing.

"Just last year, I watched the film of his gold medal match, and I cried when they lost."

Dana cut her baby teeth on the sport of volleyball. Mom can remember that she played her first year of club ball when she was in first grade "because she didn't have any front teeth at all."

But there were times when she rebelled against the sport.

"I did all her camps, every year since I was little, but it was hard for me to be coached by her," Dana said. "I would always tell her, 'Just be my mom !' "

Dana finally announced during junior high that she wanted to take a break from volleyball and try out as a cheerleader instead.

"Dana was afraid to ask me to sign the permission slip," Green recalled. "When I said I would, she said, 'Really ?'

"I said, 'Yeah -- I don't want you or Nicole to ever say that, 'You made me play volleyball.' "

But Dana came home from her first day of a cheerleading clinic and announced that she was sticking with volleyball.

"I thought to myself, 'Thank goodness!' because her dad would've flipped!" Debbie said with a laugh.

Mom isn't apprehensive about her daughters facing each other on Saturday. She doesn't even mind coaching against one of them.

"As a parent, I'm just really grateful that I have two daughters who have the opportunity to be setters for top Division 1 programs, and that Dana gets to be coached by Kathy," Green said. "There aren't a lot of coaches as knowledgable about setting as she is, and I'm really happy that she believes in Dana.

"There are many coaches who won't give a smaller setter a chance."

She admits that she caught some flak when Dana wound up at Long Beach State's arch-rival.

"They'd say, 'You're daughter is going to Santa Barbara ?' " Green said. "Well, she did grow up watching Long Beach State, and she saw plenty of our tough matches with them.

"Ever since the girls were very little, it's the one road trip that I'd always take them on."

Some still think of Dana as little. Her height -- 5-foot-7 -- became an issue at recruiting time even though she had excelled at the club and high school level, making the Long Beach Independent-Telegram's "Dream Team."

But she intrigued Gregory, who's had success with short setters such as Stephanie Cox and Brooke Rundle. One day last season, she approached Green and asked, "So, tell me about Dana."

"I told her, 'I'm her mom -- go ask her coach,' " she said. "But Kathy insisted, 'No, I want to hear it from you.'

"So I told her, 'She's your kind of setter . . . She's a fighter and she's competitive. She'll work hard and she'll go to the end. She's loyal and she's a leader.' "

Dana figures that many were "scared to coach me because of who my mom was."

"But from Day One," she added, "Kathy said she believed in me, and I trust Kathy so much in everything she teaches me.

"I like to call myself the Kathy Gregory-type of setter."

The Gauchos (5-7), who start three other freshmen, lost seven of their first nine matches. They started to click last week, however, by beating three quality opponents at the Santa Clara Tournament, including the 22nd-ranked Broncos.

Dana has already registered five double-doubles in assists and digs, and her assist average of 11.88 ranks third in the Big West -- higher, even, than Nicole's 11.48.

She is becoming more and more comfortable with the college game, she said.

"From watching it for so long, I thought I'd get it right away," Dana said, "but the college game is a lot faster than club, and the ball is played a lot higher. With the huge blockers, I needed to set the hitters more off the block -- I think I was pushing them more into it.

"As a smaller setter, I need to be deceptive, too -- see the middle blockers and set the other way -- and that's one of the hardest things to learn and master."

Dana admits that it won't be easy to get away with any tricks on Saturday against Mom and Sis.

"Yeah, they know my tendencies -- they'll watch me and go, 'Oh! Dana's dumping!' -- or something like that," she said. "Sneaking around is going to be a real challenge for me that night.

"But hopefully, I'll be challenging my sister the same way."

Just like old times.