Sweat and sand now at hand

When Diane Pascua left the drab weather of Spokane, Wash. for sunny San Diego five years ago, she planned on getting a nice tan and playing the occasional volleyball game. Pascua ended up finding a career she never dreamed possible.The 29-year-old Bear River High graduate is competing at Cal Expo today, hoping to grab a piece of the $200,000 purse at the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Sacramento Open.After learning the game at Magnolia Intermediate School and Bear River High she earned a full-ride scholarship to Gonzaga University. She was a standout for the Bulldogs for four years and believed her competitive playing career was over when she graduated in 1999.A venture to San Diego with some friends in 2001 changed all that."A few friends of mine wanted to go someplace beachy and we decided to move to San Diego. The AVP Tour was never a thought in my mind," the 5-foot-10 Pascua said. "But I like being in the sun and the sand. I knew I could adapt once I got out there."Diane's older brother Bill Pascua lived in San Diego at the time and first introduced his sister to the 2-on-2, beach version of the game. The entire Pascua family is well-versed in volleyball. Bill played in recreational leagues and coached youth teams when he was at Bear River. Marci Pascua, a '97 Bear River grad, went on to play at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho and Drew Pascua, a 2001 grad, is on the volleyball team at Warner Southern College in Florida. "We all just started at Magnolia and kept going from there," Diane said. "Drew was dragged along to every volleyball tournament, so he's been around it his whole life."Tim Smith coached each Pascua kid at Magnolia. He also coached the Bear River varsity squad in 1991 when the Bruins made the CIF state championship game. Diane was a freshman middle blocker for Smith"I remember her coming out and playing eighth grade volleyball and basketball," said Smith, who plans on watching Pascua play this weekend in Sacramento. "She later fell in love with volleyball, which pleased me immensely. She was going to be something special no matter where she went."Pascua went on to even greater heights in her junior and senior years at Bear River, under coach Terry Stafford."In the eight years I was at Bear River, she was the best athlete that I saw at the school," Stafford said. "She had numerous opportunities out of high school. She could play any position and she was just a hard-working, supportive player."Pascua caught the eye of Gonzaga's coaches while playing club volleyball with Golden Sierra standout Nicole Lamoure, who went on to earn all-West Coast Conference honors in 1998 with the Bulldogs.Pascua put together quite a resume of her own at the Spokane campus. She was just the sixth Gonzaga player to record more than 1,000 kills in her career. She's ranked in the school's top 10 in blocks, digs and aces for her career and was named to the WCC All-Academic team as a senior.In San Diego, Pascua discovered a game much different from the indoor, six-person format she grew up playing."I would go out and play a little beach with my brother and his wife and I wasn't really into it. It was hard," Pascua said. "People invited me to play and started giving me tips and I kind of made the commitment to play as my workout, instead of going to the gym."What started as a fun time and a good workout began to consume more and more of Pascua's time. She played her first AVP Tour event in 2003. Last year, she played on the pro beach tour all summer, earning nearly $7,000 in prize money.Pascua and her playing partner Jill Changaris, cruised through qualifying at the AVP Sacramento Open on Thursday, winning three matches in two-game sweeps. They begin competition in the main draw today as the No. 21 seed. Auburn native Angela Lewis, who starred at Sacramento State, and her partner Priscilla Lima are the 16th seed in the tournament.Pascua's playing partner for the last three AVP tournaments, Ella Vakhidova, was unable to make the trip to Sacramento. Changaris, a UC Davis graduate, and Pascua are hoping to catch lighting in a bottle this weekend in the sand, where chemistry is a huge part of the winning equation."It means so much to be compatible with your partner," Pascua said. "Some teams aren't very tall, they don't hit the ball all that hard, but they do well because they know each other so well."Pascua's versatility - she played every position on the court in college - has proven to be a tremendous asset on the beach.Pascua recently resigned from her position as volleyball coach and P.E. teacher at Santa Fe Christian School in San Diego. She plans on continuing to coach club volleyball on the side, but most of her time this summer is committed to her athletic career.In addition to the AVP Tour, Pascua is playing some International Tour events this summer. She's already found tremendous success overseas, having taken a bronze medal at the Southeast Asia Games last year in the Philippines with partner Heidi Ilustre. The AVP Tour has developed a loyal fan base - the Sacramento Open men's final will air live on FOX on Saturday - but Pascua doesn't have the notoriety of stars like Misty May-Treanor or Kerri Walsh. Her best finish at an AVP Tour event was s ninth place showing last year in Santa Barbara.But she's living out a dream, especially this weekend as she plays in front of friends and family."I've been doing more promotion for this tournament because it's kind of my neck of the woods," said Pascua, who is sponsored by the Beach Hut Deli this weekend. "I've been away for 10 or 12 years, so it's great to be back. It's exciting."