Van Reusen Talks a Pretty Good Game : Volleyball: Edison middle blocker has improved his play by channeling his emotions and frustrations toward opponents instead of his teammates.

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  Karl Van Reusen punctuates most of his points with a point--an index finger aimed at the volleyball player who just tried to block one of his kill spikes.

Some call it taunting.

Van Reusen calls it intimidation.

Officials sometimes call it a yellow card.

“I’ve found that cockiness takes others out of their game,” said Van Reusen, a 6-foot-5 middle blocker at Edison High School. “Everyone says Edison has a reputation as being cocky. Hey, that’s fine. It makes us play better.”

Could you give us an example, Karl?

“I made it a point when we beat Huntington Beach a few weeks ago to take Doug Cunningham out of his game,” Van Reusen said. “I kept pointing at him and telling him, ‘Come on, hit the ball at me.’ He went in the tank. He tried so hard that he made mistakes. I just kept it up.”

But earlier this season, Van Reusen and his teammates were doing even more finger-pointing. Not at opponents, but at each other.

“He had some personality conflicts with some of the players,” Edison Coach Brian Rofer said. “He’s so extroverted. He says what he wants, and that caused some animosity on the team.”

But the problem wasn’t just Van Reusen. It was everyone. Instead of coaching the team, Rofer was busy preventing his players from coaching each other.

“When someone would make a mistake, instead of forgetting about it, they would analyze it into the next play,” said Rofer, a former player at Fountain Valley and UCLA. “They knew what they did wrong, but they wouldn’t let it go.”

The criticism wasn’t the constructive kind, Van Reusen said.

“I was even worse last year,” said Van Reusen, a two-year starter. “I was really immature. I would really get on my teammates. But I’ve grown up more this year, but I still get out of control at times.

“I’m real emotional on the court, and I used to use that against my teammates. But this year, I’ve started using it more against my opponents.”

But the bickering stopped after a five-game loss to Mira Costa, the top-ranked team in the Southern Section 4-A. The three-hour match was played in front of more than 800 fans in Edison’s gym, and the loss “opened our eyes,” Rofer said.

“That game really set them going,” he said. “They came out wondering how good they were, and everyone was saying how wonderful Mira Costa was. The players found out they could compete.”

Van Reusen did.

Four days after the Mira Costa match, Van Reusen had 17 kills in a four-game victory over Huntington Beach, ranked No. 1 in Orange County at the time. He also had 17 kills in another victory over Huntington Beach two weeks ago.

Van Reusen, who has signed a letter of intent with Cal State Long Beach, discovered he not only talked a good game, but also played one.

“The Mira Costa match was the turning point of our season,” he said. “We had wins over good teams like El Toro and Newport Harbor, but we hadn’t played anyone like Mira Costa.”

They haven’t lost to anyone but Mira Costa, either. The Chargers (15-1) have an eight-game winning streak and have been ranked No. 1 in the county for the last four weeks.

They won the 60-team Tournament of Champions two weeks ago at UCLA and clinched at least a tie for the Sunset League title Friday with a victory over Marina.

“For the first time in their careers they’re playing together and not yelling at each other,” Rofer said. “Obviously, we knew that the talent was there, and that’s what we talked about.

“Instead of the individuals crying and whining, we decided to leave that off the court. It didn’t matter if you hated the other guy or not. We had to concentrate.”

And they started having fun.

Van Reusen, who averages 16 kills a match, took out frustrations on opponents instead of teammates.

Sophomore Joe McCarthy started playing like a senior. Team captain Steve Snyder continued his solid play and Daryl Ayers showed more consistency.

Even Aaron Boone, who Rofer describes as “pretty docile,” has joked around while running the offense.

“Aaron made a mistake in one of our tournament games,” Rofer said. “He knew his game wasn’t on and he was frustrated. When he went to the back row to serve, he lifted his shirt over his face and yelled something (unprintable).”

Rofer said Boone is one of the most gifted setters he has coached. Boone is headed to USC on a volleyball scholarship, and Rofer said he could compete for a spot on the 1996 Olympic team.

Boone’s setting, along with Van Reusen’s spiking and constant chatter, has made Edison one of the toughest teams to beat, Rofer said.

“They’ve been playing together for four years now and they’re a great tandem,” Rofer said. “Karl knows how to get where the blocker isn’t, and Aaron gets him the ball. There are very few setter-hitter combinations like that at this level.”

And there are few combinations that can intimidate them, Van Reusen said.

“Huntington Beach tried talking at us but for some reason it doesn’t work,” Van Reusen said. “It makes us play that much harder. We always apologize to the other team after the game. We tell them that it’s just part of the game.”