CCC volleyball coaches honor trio with major awards

Golden Valley High’s Bryan Livesay, Merced’s Johnny Vang and El Capitan’s Chittawat Her were all selected for major awards by the Central California Conference boys volleyball coaches.

Livesay was named the Offensive Player of the Year after helping lead the Cougars to a perfect 10-0 run to a CCC championship in the league’s first season of boys volleyball.

Livesay finished with 340 kills this season and averaged 3.7 kills per set. Livesay, who is a sophomore, finished third in the Sac-Joaquin Section in total kills.

“Basically, Bryan was able to bail us out whenever we needed it,” said Golden Valley coach Scott Livesay, who is Bryan’s older brother and was also named the CCC Coach of the Year. “Playing outside hitter, you get any set when we didn’t pass well enough to set our middles. He was able to will his way through it by bouncing balls off the block or around the block. He got creative.”

Her was named the CCC Setter of the Year. As a sophomore he orchestrated the Gauchos offense.

Vang was named the Defensive Player of the Year.

“He was fantastic,” said Merced coach Joel Garcia on the Bears senior. “He was everywhere on the court. He was the anchor for that back line. We’re going to miss him a lot. It’s going to be tough to replace him.”

The all-CCC first team was comprised of Livesay and GV teammates Jim Chang and Vong her. They were joined by Merced’s Johnny Vang and Tristan Vang. El Capitan’s Her and Buhach Colony’s Oscar Ramos rounded out the first team.

Named to the second team were Lorenzo Chavez (GV), Westin Bylsma (GV), Esteban Madrigal (Merced), Pong Chang (Merced), Vincent Vang (El Capitan), Michael Silva (Buhach Colony), and Kiatoom Moua (Atwater).

Receiving honorable mention were: Golden Valley’s Toujue Her, El Capitan’s Terry Chen, Merced’s Touloe Herr, Buhach Colony’s Daniel Navarro and Atwater’s Javier Madrigal.

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 3:36 PM with the headline "CCC volleyball coaches honor trio with major awards."