Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Ex-Wildcats' daughters shine on volleyball court

Now comes Part II, but this time it's California girls, not California guys.

Maddy Kerr last week accepted a volleyball scholarship to Cal. Her teammate at Torrey Pines High School, Reily Buechler, is widely viewed as one of America's top volleyball players in the Class of 2014.

"She already has full-ride scholarship offers in the Pac-12," Steve Kerr told me. Reily's mother, Lindsey Hahn Buechler, played volleyball at Arizona from 1986 to 1989.

Mia Mason, whose mother, Jeannine Sharp Mason, was a UA volleyball player in 1987 and 1988, has emerged as a top college prospect in her freshman season at Los Angeles Loyola High School.

And Jade Turner is already 6 feet 3 inches and a rising star in prep volleyball at Bakersfield High, where her father, smilin' Joe, is a basketball coach and counselor.

Jade Turner was in Tucson last month attending UA coach Dave Rubio's annual summer volleyball camp.

Maddy Kerr, entering her junior year at Torrey Pines, pulled the trigger early on her college choice before Arizona, among others, had a chance to fully evaluate her. She is a libero and a back line player.

Rubio will have a chance to recruit further at Torrey Pines; Steve Kerr said that the school has seven Division I volleyball prospects, including Ryann Chandler, daughter of former Washington Huskies QB Chris Chandler.

"We're thrilled," said Steve Kerr, whose oldest son, Nick Kerr, is entering his freshman season on a basketball scholarship at the University of San Diego.

Steve Kerr had to get a chuckle out of his daughter's decision to be a Cal Bear. In 1988, Steve wrote a guest column for the Daily Californian student newspaper, in which he deployed his dry and self-deprecating sense of humor to get a few laughs at the expense of Cal's student body and the Bears' Straw Hat Band.

Cal students presented Kerr with a tuna pizza before his final appearance at old Harmon Gym.

China a Destination

Wildcat athletes, coaches making a mark in international track

Arizona's re-emergence as a power in NCAA track/cross country is fully apparent in the finish to the international track and field season.

Distance running coach James Li is the men's head coach of Team USA at the World University Games this week in Shenzhen, China, which is his homeland. But it's not Li's ties to China that caused this late-summer exodus from McKale Center to Asia.

The Wildcats qualified three for the meet, including NCAA shot put champion Julie Labonte, U.S. and NCAA high jump champion Brigetta Barrett and All-America high jumper Edgar Rivera-Morales.

Barrett, Labonte and Rivera-Morales will go from the WUG to the World Championships Aug. 27 to Sept. 4 in Daegu, South Korea. UA jumps coach Sheldon Blockburger will be in Korea to coach Barrett and Rivera-Morales, and UA throws coach Craig Carter will be there to coach Labonte and Tucsonan Jill Camarena-Williams, perhaps America's leading female shot putter.

Li will be in Korea to coach Tucsonan Bernard Lagat in the 5,000 meters. Arizona and Rincon/University grad Nick Mossberg, who finished third in the U.S. championships in the pole vault, will not be going to Korea. He failed to reach the required height of 18-4 1/2; he was 2 inches short in recent competitions at the Olympic Training Center and in Southern California.

"The trips to China and Korea means missing the first two weeks of school," said Blockburger, "but it's a very important few weeks for us, especially leading up to the Olympics next summer."

Camarena-Williams has moved to Tucson full time to train with Carter. The ex-Stanford standout is married to Dustin Williams, the former head track and field trainer at BYU and part of the USOC training staff. Williams has been hired for a similar job for Arizona track and field.

Short Stuff

Sunnyside team in Mich., thanks to Conquistadores

When the Tucson Conquistadores say they have contributed more than $20 million to amateur sports in Southern Arizona, it's not empty talk. Sponsors of the PGA Tour in Tucson since 1962, the Conquistadores discovered last week that the Sunnyside Junior League 14U championship baseball team did not have enough money to get to the Junior League World Series in Taylor, Mich. The governing body of the World Series paid for Sunnyside's airfare from Los Angeles, not Tucson, and there wasn't enough time to raise funds. The Conquistadores arranged for the team to get to LAX and be in Michigan in time for today's opening game against Tampa, Fla. … Former UA point guard Nic Wise will continue his professional career; he signed a contract with STB Le Havre in France last week. Wise played in Germany last season. He will join a French team whose leading scorers last year were Americans: Brian Boddicker of the Texas Longhorns and John Cox of South Florida. … Salt Lake City has officially bid to become host of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament beginning in 2013. Deadline to submit bids was Friday. I like SLC because it is a hoops-first state, but it hasn't paid any dues. Here's hoping Larry Scott rotates the conference tournament between Seattle, Portland, the Bay Area, Los Angeles and Phoenix from 2013 to 2017. … Two of the greatest golfers in Tucson history, former Arizona Amateur champ Dan Meyers and four-time city amateur winner Armen Dirtadian, will play in next month's U.S. Senior Amateur in Virginia. Meyers won the Las Vegas sectional last week, and Dirtadian won the Mesa sectional. Both shot 1-under 71s. … UA baseball coach Andy Lopez lost two more incoming freshmen to pro contracts last week. The final day for MLB teams to sign a college player is Monday. Lopez has five players still negotiating: Minnesota pitcher Austin Malinowski; Palm Springs, Calif., catcher Daniel Schuknecht; Yuma shortstop Tyler Parmenter; and infielder Trent Gilbert and left-hander Matt Troupe, both of Southern California. "That's five key guys," Lopez said. "This happens every year. I don't like it, but that's life. We might keep all five or we might lose all five."

Mountain View lands Sabel, former D-back, as coach

Pitcher Erik Sabel was the first player drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks (in 1996) to get to the D-backs' regular-season roster (in 1999). He also has a World Series ring as part of the D-backs' 2001 championship. Now he is the new baseball coach at Mountain View High School. His hiring was a coup for Mountain Lions athletic director Todd Garelick. "We heard Erik had moved to town and was interested in coaching," Garelick said. "We were able to make contact and discuss the opening." Sabel, 36, also spent parts of six seasons pitching for the Tucson Sidewinders and since retiring has been a Class A pitching coach for the Diamondbacks at three locations. … Oro Valley's Jordan Brown has probably punched his ticket back to the major leagues when the Milwaukee Brewers make their September call-ups. The lefty first-baseman from the UA hit .356 in July for Class AAA Nashville and was hitting .450 in August through Friday. He had struck out just five times in his last 130 at-bats. … Incredibly, Tucson Padres first baseman Anthony Rizzo could be the Pacific Coast League's player of the year even though he missed about 25 games and a month of action while in the big leagues. Entering Saturday's game, Rizzo was hitting .366 with 23 homes and 93 RBIs in just 73 games for Tucson. It has to be one of the five or six top single seasons in Tucson minor-league history. … Flowing Wells grad Marcus Titus was the overall top swimmer in last week's World Deaf Swimming Championships in Coimbra, Portugal. He won all five events he entered a few days after flying to Portugal from San Francisco, where he was third in the USA World Championships in the 100 breast stroke. … Former UA basketball player Robbie Dosty will soon be saying goodbye to his daughters. Salpointe and ASU grad Sybil Dosty has signed a pro basketball contract with ROW Rybnik and leaves Tuesday for her second season of European basketball. She averaged 10.9 points in Poland last year. Salpointe and UA grad Whitney Dosty, who played pro volleyball in Puerto Rico last year, leaves for Switzerland on Aug. 28 to play in the European Volleyball League.

My two cents

Byrne hits another one out of the park with move to Hi Corbett

After Arizona's move from Kindall/Sancet Stadium to Hi Corbett Field was made official last week, 1980s UA baseball star J.T. Snow dispatched an email to the UA baseball family saying, "We deserve to host NCAA regionals, win Pac-12 championships and, more importantly, win national championships. If this means moving off campus to be the best, then we should do it."

On Friday, iconic coach Jerry Kindall responded in kind.

"Let nothing diminish the memories and historical significance of Sancet Field; we cherish the past," he wrote in an email to UA lettermen.

"This will not be an easy move, but with our undivided encouragement and loyalty, it can be a success and re-energize the Wildcat baseball program we all hold dear."

The move to Hi Corbett Field means two things: (1) spring training baseball won't return to Tucson in the foreseeable future; (2) UA baseball has a chance to recapture its audience and regain some relevance.

In 15 months as Arizona's director of athletics, Greg Byrne has begun a dramatic renovation of the UA's football plant, kept Sean Miller on board and given new direction to the once-grand UA baseball program without a lasting quarrel.

Home runs all.