Mira Costa volleyball star Mateo Fuerbringer

Call it intuition. Call it mentality. Call it a stress gene.

Whatever it’s, Mateo Fuerbringer has it.

“I was born with it,” he says.

When the stress is on and Mira Costa High’s volleyball group wants somebody to step ahead and ship, Fuerbringer doesn’t need to raise his hand or ask for permission.

He just delivers.

“I’m able to be good under pressure in tough moments.”

Maybe it has one thing to do with being a volleyball participant since he may stroll, though a basketball was put in his crib. He rapidly switched sports activities favorites.

His mother, Joy, performed at Long Beach State and has her own membership program. His dad, Matt, performed at Stanford and is head coach for the 2028 Olympic Games males’s seashore volleyball group. His sister, Charlie, performs at Wisconsin.

“My parents run a volleyball club, so I always came with them to work,” Fuerbringer said. “I’d always be around volleyball and got into it.”

He has grown to 6 ft 5 as a 17-year-old junior and is dedicated to UCLA, which is No. 1 in the nation with a 21-1 file.

Mira Costa is ranked No. 1 in Southern California, and stopping Fuerbringer from rising up and coming through with a kill is always the problem for opponents. He’s definitely not excellent, but his energy and data of the game places him on a path for future success at each degree he competes.

“I really love playing,” he said. “I really love the sport.”

That type of ardour and dedication mixed with expertise is mirrored during matches. When he smiles, you may see his pleasure and satisfaction after he or a teammate comes through.

Loyola coach Mike Boehle has been watching Fuerbringer for years.

“It was in his blood since he was born,” Boehle said. “To watch him as a 12-year-old you could see he was special. He was playing up. He’s probably the best outside hitter in his class. The thing I appreciate about him is he’s pretty even keel. It’s not cockiness. He just plays the game. Nothing worries him. Playing against us, he got better as the match went on. He didn’t say a lot but spoke volumes with his play.”

Boehle said he’s wanting ahead to seeing Fuerbringer play alongside former Loyola star Sean Kelly at UCLA.

“It could be one of the best duos in a long time,” he said.

Mateo Fuerbringer of Mira Costa High tries to ship a kill against Loyola. He had 37 for the match.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

He lives strolling distance from the sand in Hermosa Beach, which suggests he’ll be receiving even more classes when top seashore gamers are training under his father this summer time. He’ll be hanging out just like when he was younger.

He’s just getting began. He has a leap serve that could be powerful to deal with. And he’s always wanting to improve.

“I’ve been getting in the weight room to get stronger and increase my vertical,” he said.

There used to be two-on-two household volleyball matches, mother and dad vs. Mateo and his sister. Or card video games, board video games, pickleball video games.

“It’s pretty feisty in the family,” Matt said.

So where do issues go from right here?

“One of Mateo’s big things is he wants to play with friends,” his father said. “He wants to play at the highest level with people he knows and likes.”