Strong Roots and a "Big" Game
7/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
July 25, 2005
Her grandfather founded Pepperdine athletics. Her parents met on the steps of the school's gymnasium.
Legendary men's volleyball coach Marv Dunphy taught her how to block at 14 and suggested her permanent move to outside hitter.
Julie Rubenstein may be the ultimate legacy, but, having just guided her club team to its first Under-18 national championship, the 6-foot-4 Camarillo resident is poised to leave an impressive one of her own after the next four years in Malibu.
"Julie is seeped in Pepperdine tradition," said Pepperdine women's volleyball coach Nina Matthies. "How great is it for us that she can play volleyball?"
Pretty great, if she does for Pepperdine what she did for Sports Shack, a dominant southern California club that had spawned Division I national champions like Courtney Schultz and Sarah Neal, members of four different title teams at Stanford, yet had never won the Under-18 national title at the annual Volleyball Festival in Reno, Nev.
"Always a bridesmaid," said Tim Jensen, a Pepperdine assistant who doubles as Sports Shack head coach.
That is, until last month, when recent La Reina High graduate Hailey Fithian setting recent Oaks Christian graduate Rubenstein proved to be a irresistible combination. Sports Shack swept all 28 of its games in going unbeaten in 14 matches over the weeklong tournament, defeating another team from California, Rancho Valley, in the final televised on Fox Sports.
"It might be the most unique experience I'll ever have," said Fithian, who will play at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this fall. "We have this special connection because we're really good friends outside volleyball. I could always set her and trust that she'll do something good with the ball.
"I'll be lucky to play with anyone like her ever again."
Fithian tried to be a bit too perfect early in the final. Nerves sent her usual pinpoint sets wayward. But Rubenstein, who was unaffected when her first three attacks went without a point, was not to be denied.
"We're in the biggest game of the national tournament," said Jensen. "Her first three balls go stuff, dig and dig. At that point, most kids would probably be done. Not Jules. On her fourth set she put the ball away and led us to a national championship."
The title marked a remarkable year for Rubenstein, who, with the help of Thousand Oaks trainer An Truong, transformed the potential of her long body into a dominant outside hitter with a future in the sport.
"In 12 years, I've coached a lot of kids," said Jensen. "Some of them have started and won national championships. ... but I haven't coached a kid like this, with the potential to be a superstar like this kid has."
That potential begins with the body, the legs that seemingly climb above the waist and the arms that flow down the thighs. That's the body on which Pepperdine was speculating by offering Rubenstein a scholarship at just 16, just four years after she picked up the sport and just before one industry magazine labeled her "awkward."
"I know it's crazy, we're talking about 16-year-olds," said Matthies. "But that's what we do. That's what the game has become."
Matthies looked at Rubenstein's parents (her mother, Garianne is 6-foot) and pedigree (her sister Rachel, as well as being the first homecoming queen in Oaks Christian's history, was a left-handed setter who earned a scholarship at Azusa Pacific before transferring to Pepperdine) and made a projection.
"I figured out a few things," said the longtime coach.
Rubenstein's friends and family would have painted an even warmer picture. Growing up a younger sibling, she would mimic those around her for laughs. She matured into a strong student (3.9 GPA) with a stronger sense of justice.
"She's the type of friend that makes you a better person," said Fithian. "She's very classy. She keeps her level very high and won't swoop down and talk about anyone. That's very hard to find someone these days."
Yet, she is also the friend who Lauren Gillingham, her friend since the age of 3, won't shop without.
"She's the best person to go bargain shopping with," said Gillingham. "When I want to save money and go shopping, I take her with me."
Self-conscious about her height, Rubenstein picked up the sport as a shy eighth-grader treading in her sister's footsteps.
She learned the fundamentals from Dunphy, who her grandfather, basketball coach Gary Colson, hired as Pepperdine's first volleyball coach. As a 14-year-old playing on an Under-18 team, Rubenstein blocked well enough to start in the junior Olympics.
She joined Sports Shack's Under-18 team a year early and learned the ball-control style of the women's game. Jensen, convinced she could be the best player in the history of the club, rode her mercilessly.
"You don't get that type of player with all those things going for her," said Jensen. "Body type, competitive desire, the love for teammates and respect for the game. You might get one or two of those qualities in a girl, but she has every one of them."
Her club exploits placed her in Rich Kern's list of the Top 50 players in the country. Rubenstein was ranked No. 48 in Prep Volleyball's Top 250 "Senior Aces," behind just 10 Californians. She appeared in Volleyball magazine four editions in a row.
Still, Rubenstein flew a bit under the radar as a senior at Oaks Christian, where the Frontier League Most Valuable Player was just a second-team All-CIF Division IV selection despite 356 kills in 65 games, an average of 5.5 kills per game. She also led the team in digs (109), blocks (31) and aces (37).
"Julie is just the ideal," said Oaks Christian coach Scott Wong, a former Pepperdine player and coach who now plays on the professional tour. "She has height, but she also has the refined skills of passing, of setting and she has a great jump serve.
"She's tall. She's gifted. But she doesn't have the demeanor of a star."
She moves on this fall, not only excited that it is her turn to carry the family legacy in Malibu, but at the prospect of finding some other tall people to dance with her.
"Finally," she sighed, laughing.
