By Will Robinson

After living in many places in the United States, and playing volleyball internationally, Liz Towne-Gilbert (formerly Towne) once again is back where it all started — Davis.

The former Blue Devil and UC Santa Barbara net great is working as a head coach and director of FiveStarz Volleyball Club, formerly the Davis Volleyball Club.

The rebranded club has been together for just three years, but there has been no shortage of success.

Towne-Gilbert’s U13 girls team qualified and competed in the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships in Columbus, Ohio earlier this month — a trip that Towne-Gilbert called a great learning experience for her team.

“The eye-opener was seeing the level (of play from) across the country, and where they need to go to get better and better. We took 25th,” Towne-Gilbert said. “We played great throughout the whole tournament, we just ran across some teams that were definitely bigger, faster, stronger … probably had been together a lot longer.”

At the same tournament, Debby Colberg’s under-15 Five Starz squad earned a silver medal, losing in the finals to a squad from Michigan team.

The overall club success is no surprise as its director, Towne-Gilbert, was a brilliant player at DHS in the early to mid-1980s. Longtime Davis prep coach Jan Furman is the one mentor that Towne-Gilbert points to “that shaped my love for volleyball.”

After a stunning prep career, Towne-Gilbert continued her dominating play at UCSB. The former Devil remains the Gauchos’ career assist leader (5,542) and ranks in the top 10 with 1,256 digs. The UCSB media guide calls her “arguably the finest setter ever to don a Gaucho uniform.”

After various collegiate coaching jobs — including stints at South Florida, Arizona, Sacramento State, UCSB and USC — Towne-Gilbert has returned to her hometown.

Though most of her career has been spent coaching college players, Towne-Gilbert welcomes her knew role with the youngsters. She enjoys the added responsibility of training not only a developing player, but a developing person.

“In college, kids already have it,” said Towne-Gilbert, who earned a degree in sociology at Santa Barbara. “When you have younger kids, they all come from such different backgrounds, you can play a huge (part in) younger kids’ lives; more than at college.”

Five Starz got a shot in the arm with Colberg in the fold and Towne-Gilbert’s return to Davis.

“We had to rebuild the program because the level had dropped off a bit, so I decided to start with a young team,” Towne-Gilbert explained. “They didn’t have much experience, but (as you) develop a core group of kids, (you) know that they’re going play together and continue to get better that as they get older; they’re going get taller, stronger.”

Notes: The club features approximately 150 girls, ranging in age from 12 to 18. …The club practices in Davis and Woodland and will formally resume competition in November. … Towne-Gilbert was the first associate head coach in Santa Barbara history and was a member of the U.S. Volleyball Association National Team. She played extensively throughout Europe. … Her husband Wayne is an investment banker. … Colberg, who is president of the Five Starz board, spent 32 years at Sacramento State as head women’s volleyball coach. The Davis resident had Hornet teams that won two national titles, made 20 NCAA appearances and brought Colberg 17 conference coach of the year titles. She is a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. … Towne-Gilbert’s U13 team is made up of Paloma Bowman, Libby Christensen, Erin Clark, Kelsey Grover, Katie Harrington, Karlie Kijanka, Alexa Mathisen, Lexi Matsumura, Samantha Moore, Michelle Taynton and Ryann Thomison. …Colberg’s second-place U15 squad was paced by all-tournament selections Adlee and Torrey VanWinden and Mikaela Nocetti, as well as Nastassja Bowman, Anna Donald, Marissa Gollnick, Kylie Green, Devin Herenda, Meghan Nealon, Isabella Smith, Skyler Takeda and Brooke Watson.

— Will Robinson is a 2009 Da Vinci High graduate and will be a senior at the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. He is a senior sports editor of Neon Tommy, an all-online USC newspaper.

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Davis High volleyball legend Liz Towne-Gilbert, top right in white, poses with her Five Starz U13 squad after coaching the team to a top-25 finish at the recent Junior Olympics in Columbus, Ohio. Courtesy photo

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