by Michael Hurlbut
Assistant Sports Editor
Texas. Home of rabit high school football, oil rigs, and … men’s volleyball? It’s not necessarily a hotbed, but Pepperdine setter Beau Daniels is proof that an unknown Texan can become the best-kept secret in Division I volleyball.
Daniels started playing volleyball on Stewart Beach in Galveston, Texas, his sophomore year of high school with some of his friends.
Although he wasn’t a very good player at the time, a friend from school who played on a club team thought he would be a good passer, so Beau took up the game fulltime.
By the time Daniels was a senior, he had improved so much that he was named the Most Valuable Player at the Texas State Championships.
But there weren’t any coaches knocking down his door in the town of League City, Texas.
“I wrote a bunch of schools out of high school, but nobody wrote me back, probably because I was out of Texas, a place where volleyball for guys is unheard of,” Daniels said.
“Riley Salmon,” Daniels continued, “a guy who coached and played on our team in Texas hooked me up with the coach of Pierce (college).”
Salmon, now a member of the USA men’s volleyball team, was a major factor in Daniel’s decision to continue playing in college.
Pierce Community College, located in Woodland Hills, is known as one of the top junior colleges for men’s volleyball in California.
Other present and former Pepperdine players such as Lance Walker and Keith Barnett transferred into Pepperdine from Pierce College.
Although Daniels had already been accepted to the University of Texas, the school did not have a volleyball program and so he decided to make the move to Southern California to play college volleyball at the highest level.
“My dad wasn’t too excited that I was ditching my acceptance, but he understood it was for volleyball,” Daniels said.
At Pierce, Daniels played every single position his freshman year in taking the team to the state title game of the California State Community College Championships.
During his sophomore year he settled down as a setter and led the Brahmas to a state title in 2000.
Late in the 2000 season, Daniels received a visit from Pepperdine head coach Marv Dunphy at a Brahma match.
“I went up to talk to him after the game and he said, ‘Hey, think you should come out to Pepperdine tomorrow and we should talk a bit.’ I liked what I heard, liked the opportunity I saw, and I came here to become a great setter.”
In becoming a Wave, the senior turned down the USC Trojans, who were also trying to land the star. Daniels cites the coaching staff’s initiative in recruiting him at Pierce as one of the main reasons he came to Pepperdine.
After playing sparingly in his first year at Pepperdine primarily as a serving specialist due to a broken ankle, Daniels took over the setting responsibility this season and is currently handling the load better than most expected.
Pepperdine’s skipper, Dunphy, has nothing but good things to say about the senior transfer’s ability to pick things up quickly.
“He’s pretty tough,” Dunphy said. “He has really improved as the year has gone on and he knows how to handle input from the coaches and his teammates.”
Despite still being relatively new to the position, he is leading the nation in assists per game at 14.05. He is also directing an offense that is third in the nation in team hitting percentage at .365.
To go from not-recruited out of high school to starting setter on the No. 1 team in the nation is quite an improbable story.
Donny Killian, USC assistant coach and former Pepperdine player, pays Daniels the ultimate compliment. “Usually the best team in the country is led by the top setter,” Killian said, “and this year is no exception.”
Daniels’ rocket serve has bumped him up to third on the team with 29 aces and he is tied for third on the team with 112 digs.
So what does he say about not being recognized in high school by college coaches?
“I’m not bitter at all,” Daniels said. “I learned a lot on the way here and I’m happy with the road I took.”
April 04, 2002
