Provo's family pipelines

PROVO — They're the royal families of volleyball in Utah County.

Anyone who knows anything about high school volleyball played south of the Point of the Mountain has been asking for years when the Wilsons and Lobendahns will run out of daughters.

The end is in sight, and Provo High coach Wendy Bills isn't thrilled about the prospect of fielding a team and not being able to count on either a Wilson or a Lobendahn — or one of each — to take charge on the court for her.

It all began in 1990, when the Wilson family moved to Provo from northern California and Andrea joined the volleyball team as a freshman. She was member of Provo's state champs as a junior in 1992 and started a trend the final two family connections don't want to break.

The Wilsons soon sent daughter Kari through Provo's volleyball program, followed by Amy, Kim and, finally, Lori — the end of the line.

Kim is currently redshirting at BYU because of an injury, but generally she's one of the team leaders for a tough Cougar volleyball squad.

"It's hard for her to sit out this year with an injury," said younger sister Lori. "She wants to be playing."

Besides winning a full-ride scholarship to BYU, Kim also led the Bulldogs to two state titles, with a little help from the Lobendahn clan — Lizzy, the second of the Lobendahns to play for Bills in Provo.

Though the Lobendahns are nine strong — including six girls — and everyone in the group plays volleyball intently, Stacy and Christina were too old to play high school ball when the family first made the long trek from Fiji and settled in Provo.

But Angela, Lizzy, Fa'alua and Nalani have all been mainstays on the court for the Bulldogs.

Angela accepted a volleyball scholarship to New Mexico State University, and after starring there for four years, she spent three as a coach at UVSC.

Fa'alua is currently a sophomore playing volleyball at Westminster. "She loves playing up there," said Nalani. "She loves the players and the coach."

And they're not the only ones who'll end up playing for major universities. The babies of the families just might be getting the most attention of all.

"I have a stack of things colleges have sent me," said Nalani, who keeps an entire drawer full of university offerings.

Added Lori: "I have a file cabinet full of stuff. They've sent at least 10 media guides."