PACIFIC BEACH – At 20-15, the Mission Bay High girls volleyball team is playing well and feeling confident.
“We have a lot of depth on our team in every position and have received valuable contributions from all 14 players on our roster. We are feeling good about our team and our playing heading into the playoffs,” said Mission Bay coach Barbara Birnbaum.
The talented “front five” are seniors Gia Harder, Ava Mirabelli, Brynn Sloan, Kalea Anderson, and junior Audie Caban.
“Each of these five has made outstanding contributions to our 2025 winning season,” Birnbaum said. “They have amassed impressive stats.”
During the week of Oct. 13, Harder garnered 1,000 assists, a rare and impressive accomplishment for setters.
“In volleyball, an assist is when a player sets the ball up for another player to slam the ball back against the opposing team with such force that it can not be returned,” Birnbaum said.
Harder, a co-captain of the varsity, is in the top 25 of the CIF San Diego Section for assists. Harder plays indoor and outdoor volleyball at Mission Bay as well as club volleyball in the off-season. With a full IB course load, Harder would like to attend the University of Oregon with a major in business.
Anderson is one of the two primary setters on the varsity team and is ranked in the top 45 of CIF San Diego for assists. She has played on varsity for three years and has committed to Occidental College to play volleyball in the fall of 2026.
Sloan is a defensive specialist. She is in her second year on varsity. She is frequently assigned as the libero and is the team’s leader in digs. A libero is a specialized defensive position focused on receiving serves and “digging” attacks.
Five standout players from Mission Bay’s girls varsity volleyball team (left to right) senior Ava Mirabelli, senior Brynn Sloan, senior Gia Harder, junior Audie Caban, and senior Kalea Anderson. (Photo by Cyril A. Reinicke/Special to Beach & Bay Press)Sloan leads the team with 290 digs. “I want to attend University of Oregon or University of Washington, somewhere rainy, to study sports business with a minor in sports media/photography,” Sloan said.
Mirabelli, who started playing volleyball the summer before ninth grade, plays indoors and outdoors, as well as club volleyball. This is her second year on varsity, and she is going into the playoffs with 172 kills. Mirabelli attended Pacific Beach Elementary, Pacific Beach Middle, and is a full IB diploma candidate at Mission Bay.
Caban is a co-captain of the varsity team. Caban started playing volleyball at the end of eighth grade. “I chose Mission Bay as a high school because of its strong IB program and the close bond I was forming with the girls on the volleyball team,” she said.
From December to July, Caban plays club volleyball and does strength training to continue to improve her volleyball performance.
“Audie is the blocks leader (116 blocks), that’s No. 1 in all of CIF San Diego Section,” Birnbaum said. “She is also our team and league kills leader (388 kills), she’s in the top-4 for all of San Diego Section CIF for total kills.”
“I love volleyball because it’s truly a team sport and everyone has to work together to win,” Caban said. “It’s also so exciting to get a really good kill or block, and I love the energy that my team has.”
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