Kiani finds his calling in volleyball
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers ON THE ATTACK- Thousand Oaks High senior Cyrus Kiani prepares to drive home a kill during Monday's Alumni Game at TOHS. In addition to his role with the Lancer volleyball squad, Kiani was also a star for the school's basketball team last winter.

Yariv Lerner's gamble has paid off.

Two years ago, the former Thousand Oaks High head boys' volleyball coach decided to bring sophomore Cyrus Kiani up to the varsity team because of a lack of youth on the squad.

"I didn't expect at all to make the varsity team that year," Kiani said. "Before I was called up, I was actually thinking about giving up volleyball and focusing entirely on basketball."

Luckily for TOHS, Kiani didn't quit, and instead Lerner's insight enabled Kiani to become one of the Lancers' premier players at middle blocker.

The Lancers entered Wednesday night's match against Simi Valley with a 16-2 overall record and a 9-1 mark in the Marmonte League, just one game behind Royal for first place.

Cyrus Kiani

Kiani is a big reason why TOHS is still in the hunt to repeat as league champions- the Lancers were cochamps last year with Westlake.

"To me, he's the best middle blocker in the league," TOHS teammate and senior co-captain Spencer Chun said of Kiani.

"His skill level and his athletic ability set him apart from the rest of the league."

Kiani is receiving his fair share of accolades now, but volleyball didn't always come easy for the senior. When he first began playing the sport, Kiani did it only because he thought it might improve his skill on the basketball court.

"I started playing volleyball in eighth grade, and I had no clue whatsoever of what I was doing," Kiani said.

"I still thought I was pretty good at it and decided to give it a try in high school. Then I saw the seniors and juniors play. I knew right then that I had a long way to go before I was a solid player."

Kiani improved enough during his freshman year to be the only sophomore brought up to the varsity squad by Lerner. Kiani said it wasn't until the end of his sophomore season that he felt comfortable playing varsity volleyball.

"In our second-round playoff game against Harvard-Westlake, I played pretty well and we won," Kiani said. "That's when I started to realize for the first time that volleyball- not basketball- may be my calling."

Kiani's teammates then persuaded him to play club volleyball the following summer. Shortly thereafter, Kiani joined the Santa Monica Beach Club.

"It's a half-hour drive every day to practice, but it was well worth it," Kiani said about joining the club. "It made my transition to playing volleyball my junior year at TOHS a lot easier."

Kiani continued his outstanding play during his junior campaign. At the season's conclusion, he was rewarded by being named to the All-Marmonte League's first team.

"It was great to be honored, but more important than being on the All-Marmonte League first team was that we were league champs," Kiani said.

"My teammate, Trevor Van Uden, was named MVP, and a couple other teammates were also named to the first and second teams, so it felt like a greater honor in that I was able to share the award with them. It felt good to realize that the hard work went to a greater cause."

Kiani also became more vocal on the court during his junior year, something teammates such as Chun appreciated.

"He's a good person to have on the court at all times," Chun said. "If we need a boost, he will do a good job of saying 'Come on, let's go' and get us fired up.

"He also does a good job of noticing opposing players' tendencies, and if he thinks it's something that will help me, he lets me know."

Another person that's glad Kiani didn't quit the sport before his sophomore year is TOHS firstyear head coach Andrew Vazquez, who previously coached at Chaminade High and Viewpoint.

"The thing that impresses me about Kiani is his work ethic and his attention to detail," Vazquez said.

"The thing that surprised me was how good his hands were for a middle blocker. He back-sets a lot, and not many middle blockers can do that well."

While many coaches and critics have noticed Kiani's stellar play, he wishes the loud home crowds he plays in front of during basketball season would come out during volleyball season.

"Most of my good friends don't even know that I'm a volleyball player; they just know me from basketball," Kiani said. "This school is kind of known as a basketball school, but all that can change.

"Nobody knew the girls' soccer team was that good, but then they started winning more playoff games, and more and more fans came out to see them. That's what we need to do- just keep winning and more fans will eventually come to see us. Winning cures just about everything."