Newport Harbor's Caldwell couldn't be stopped

Kyle Caldwell said he would not have traded his senior volleyball season for four “OK” ones. In reality, the glory of his final season at Newport Harbor was shaped by the three before it.

Caldwell broke his left foot playing basketball his freshman year. He had ankle surgery on his right foot before his sophomore year and broke the middle finger on his left hand playing volleyball that spring. He broke his right foot playing basketball his junior year.

Healthy in 2008, the Register's Player of the Year had 879 assists, 237 kills, 90 digs, 63 aces and 62 blocks to lead Newport (31-4) to the CIF-SS Division I final against Mira Costa, which beat the Sailors in five games.

“I never gave up,” Caldwell said of playing volleyball and basketball, which he has done at the varsity level since he was a freshman. “It's hard to say no to something you love.”

It helped that Newport Harbor coach Dan Glenn didn't want him to.

“I love watching him play basketball,” said Glenn, who attended several of his games over the years. “I'm one of his biggest fans. I believe strongly playing basketball makes you a better volleyball player.

“And one thing I told him is, never let anyone tell you that you can't do anything.”

For Glenn, that also meant making his 6-8 outside hitter with a scholarship to UCLA a setter. Glenn watched Karch Kiraly alternate between the setter and hitter positions and felt a hitter was more valuable. He changed his mind after seeing Misty May-Treanor star at the same two positions but ultimately control the game as a setter.

Glenn said he moved Caldwell before a junior season he barely played in because of injury. Caldwell said he initially wondered if his coach was serious, then fell in love all over again for he was no longer just hitting and blocking.

“You got to figure out who you're setting to, how they like it, when to set them, when not to set them,” the Sailors' co-captain said. “It changed the game for me.”

After early playoff exits the past two years, the Sailors went unbeaten in the vaunted Sunset League as part of a two-month-long winning streak that took them to the finals.

“I always felt confident in every match,” Glenn said, “because I always knew we had the best player.”

Contact the writer: amaya@ocregister.com