Cam Green could feel the frustration mounting, his Manhattan Beach Mira Costa girls’ volleyball players not quite finding a groove in passing drills.
So at one practice late in the season, the coach pulled his passers aside and delivered a simple message: You don’t need to be perfect.
You just need to be close.
“Because we have the setter,” Green recalled telling his team, “that can make everything else better.”
It’s a heavy burden for one player to carry. But Mira Costa junior Charlie Fuerbringer was born with an Olympian’s athleticism and grew up a student of the game, developing a volleyball IQ that must be seen to be believed. For her unparalleled importance to a Mira Costa program that advanced to a CIF Open Division regional final, she’s been selected The Times’ player of the year in girls’ volleyball.
Those intangibles, in large part, come from a family of volleyball royalty. Her father, Matt Fuerbringer, was a former pro beach player and All-American at Stanford who currently serves as an assistant for the U.S. men’s national team. Her mother, Joy Fuerbringer, was an All-American setter and head coach at Long Beach State. Uncle David McKienzie played for the U.S. national team at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Charlie Fuerbringer, making a dig during a club practice recently, is not only a top setter but solid server and blocker.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
“Just being surrounded by the culture … growing up with that knowledge helps so much with my IQ,” Fuerbringer said.
She’s a brilliant setter, making hitters around her better by putting balls in perfect spots or confusing opposing blockers with back-taps. But the 5-foot-11 Fuerbringer also flashed a dominant all-around game this past season, stepping up for key blocks and serves in close games.
When Mira Costa ran up against L.A. Marymount early in the season, a team it hadn’t beaten in Green’s five-year tenure, there was Fuerbringer stepping up and stuffing a hit from mighty Marymount outside hitter Torrey Stafford. When the Mustangs were down 22-14 in the fourth set of what seemed like an imminent loss to Redondo Union, there was Fuerbringer to lead a comeback and seal the set with a monster block.
“She’s got sort of a mode in her that says, ‘You’re just not going to beat me today,’” Green said.
Mira Costa fell one match short of their goal to take home a Southern Section championship, Chatsworth Sierra Canyon sweeping it for the Division 1 title. But after beating the Trailblazers in the Open Division regional semifinal, the Mustangs did what no other team could in 2022: take a set off a great San Diego Cathedral team in the regional final.
Green told Fuerbringer on several occasions she can leave Mira Costa — a program that’s produced former Olympians like Holly McPeak — as the greatest player in school history.
“I know that’s a giant statement and some people might freak out at that,” Green said, “but I can’t think of a player that can do all of the things she can do.”
