Mira Costa’s Charlie Fuerbringer did more than set up Mustangs

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.

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Mira Costa setter Charlie Fuerbringer is The Times’ girls’ volleyball player of the year. A look at the team and Stefanie Wigfall, coach of the year.

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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.”