Fallbrook coaches take Escondido Adventist spikers to playoffs

Two Fallbrook residents coached the Escondido Adventist Academy boys volleyball team to the Hawks’ first trip to the CIF playoffs.

Head coach Dan Nicola and assistant coach Gene Popko guided the team to a 6-6 league and regular-season record, which placed third in the Coastal North League and also gave the Hawks the fifth seed in the CIF Division IV playoffs.

The Hawks also had the league’s most valuable player, junior middle blocker and outside hitter Mark Knutson.

The Hawks actually finished the season with a 6-7 record; the lack of a full 12-team field gave Escondido Adventist a bye in the first round of the CIF playoffs before Tri-City Christian advanced to the semifinals with a three-game sweep.

The 2007 season was the second year for the Escondido Adventist boys volleyball program. In 2006 the team did not have a league affiliation and played eight matches. “We had a very limited schedule,” Nicola said.

This year the team joined the Coastal North League but didn’t have any non-league matches. “I intend to get more games for next year,” Nicola said. “We were ten games behind by the time the season started, but in spite of that we had a great season.”

Nicola, a lifelong Fallbrook resident, attended college at La Sierra University in the Riverside area. When he was a student there, La Sierra didn’t have an intercollegiate athletic program, but he still participated on an intramural volleyball team. “I love the sport. I played a lot of volleyball in college at the intramural level,” Nicola said.

Escondido Adventist Academy has about 100 students at the high school level. “We’re a very small school,” Nicola said. “Every teacher is stretched pretty thin.”

Nicola is a parent at the school, and when he was asked to coach the boys volleyball team he accepted. “I was happy to,” he said.

Nicola’s older daughter will be a senior when school resumes, and his younger daughter will be a freshman at the high school in 2007-08.

Nicola sought the help of Popko, who was a high school coach in Inglewood before moving to Fallbrook. “He very graciously volunteered to help me out. He’s got a lot more volleyball experience than I do,” Nicola said.

Nicola and Popko are both coaching on a volunteer basis, as are all other athletic coaches at the school. “Even though our coaching is on a volunteer basis, we have quality coaches and we put together quality teams every year,” Nicola said.

The school began its athletic program in 1996, and its basketball teams have developed into strong programs. Nicola’s older daughter was on the varsity girls basketball team for the 2006-07 season.

Escondido Adventist Academy currently has its own gymnasium, and the school is scheduled to move to a new location in the fall. “We’ll have a much newer facility,” Nicola said.