With 48 high school teams competing for four state championships by playing 72 matches over the next four days at five different venues, there will be volleyballs flying all over Honolulu this week.

And the McLachlin family of lower Manoa will be loving every minute of it.

Spencer McLachlin, a Punahou junior outside hitter, will lead the defending champion and No. 1-seeded Buffanblu (16-0) into action starting with tomorrow's Division I quarterfinals, but today mother Beth will already be busy scrambling around as the coordinator for the girls tournaments.

Even dad Chris, who has a week off from color commentary duties for the University of Hawai'i women's volleyball TV broadcasts, likely will be in the middle of the action since the Punahou athletic department where he works is hosting the Division II boys tournament.

Is there such a thing as too much volleyball?

"For us, probably not," Chris said. "It's in our blood."

For Spencer, an Advertiser All-State first-team selection in 2004, that is almost literally true.

Chris and Beth met on a Southern California volleyball court some 37 years ago, when Chris was a senior at Stanford and Beth was a senior at St. Paul High School in Sante Fe Springs, Calif.

A self-described "volleyball romance" soon followed and brought them to Hawai'i as a married couple in 1970, when Chris began teaching and coaching at Punahou. A few years later, Beth was recruited by then-UH head coach Alan Kang to play on the school's first intercollegiate volleyball team and helped the Rainbow Wahine reach the national championship match in that inaugural 1974 season.

"I was the tallest player on the team at 5 feet 8," Beth said. "We played UCLA, and all of their players were 5-9 and up."

A STRONG CONNECTION

Of course, Dave Shoji took over the UH program the following year and the sport's popularity in the Islands exploded. But the McLachlins were volleyball junkies long before that.

Chris got hooked as a 12-year-old in Newport Beach, Calif., before playing at Punahou and Stanford. He then coached the Buffanblu boys to their first state championship in 1972, the first of four straight for Punahou.

Later, Chris coached the Buffanblu to seven consecutive state crowns from 1982 to 1988 and has worked on KHNL/K5 Rainbow Wahine TV broadcasts for the past 22 seasons.

Beth also got involved in coaching high school volleyball (at Mid-Pacific Institute and La Pietra), but not before being selected as an alternate for the 1968 U.S. Olympic team.

After winning All-America honors in 1974, she was co-captain of the U.S. Olympic team that fell short of qualifying for the 1976 Games in Montreal.

Chris' and Beth's connection to volleyball did not end when they started their family; if anything, it got stronger. Son Parker played on Punahou's state championship teams in the mid-1990s and daughter Bekka also played for the Buffanblu before graduating in 2000 and continuing her career at Salt Lake (Utah) Community College.

So it was no shock when Spencer, the baby of the family, began bumping and hitting the white leather ball just after preschool.

"I don't think I ever thought I wouldn't be playing volleyball," Spencer said. "Everybody always assumed I would."

That said, none of the McLachlins has treated the sport as a 24/7, year-'round venture. Chris and Beth also played basketball and Chris coached Punahou's boys to three state hoops championships (in 1975, 1979 and 1990).

Parker now makes a living as a professional golfer and has advanced to the second stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School. Bekka competed for several years in rhythmic gymnastics, and Spencer is a standout basketball player who has been a key member of the Buffanblu team that has been the Interscholastic League of Honolulu runner-up the past two seasons.

But volleyball is a common bond between all five family members, and it often makes for spirited dinner table conversations.

"Especially in the spring time, when I'm playing (club ball) for Outrigger and my dad is coaching," Spencer said. "We always talk about what happened at practice, what lineups we should use. It's always fun; we enjoy talking about volleyball."

WALL-TO-WALL OFFERINGS

The McLachlins' love of the sport is clearly evident in conversation. Chris speaks with reverence about Dr. Donnis Thompson, a former UH professor and athletic department official who spearheaded the Rainbow Wahine's burst onto Hawai'i's sports landscape.

Beth gushes when talking about the opportunities awaiting the 24 Division II teams that will have their own state tournament for the first time this week.

And when asked about Punahou's three-year state title drought (2001 to 2003) after winning 21 of the first 32 crowns, Spencer saw a silver lining.

"At least it allowed other schools to win and get recognition," he said. "I think interest in the sport got higher, and it's definitely more fun when you have good competition rather than winning games 25-10."

The Buffanblu clinched the ILH championship this season with two matches to spare, but they first had to navigate a gauntlet that included tough challenges from Iolani, Kamehameha, Hawai'i Baptist and Maryknoll.

They would have to be considered the heavy favorite again in this tournament, with a lineup that includes the 6-foot-7 McLachlin, middle hitters Keali'i Frank (6-6) and Matt Brown (6-5), outside hitter Will Ehrman (6-1) and setter Riley McKibbin (6-3). Even libero Erik Shoji, a defensive wizard, is 5-11.

But regardless of who wins the state titles, the McLachlins plan on savoring the wall-to-wall offerings of serves, sets and spikes over the next four days. And they want everyone else to enjoy it, too.

"We want to maximize the opportunities for the players, schools and fans," said Beth, who coached La Pietra's intermediate team this past season. "The logistics were tough with all the tournaments going at the same time, but all of the sites are nice and a lot of people from a lot of schools are all pitching in to make everything work.

"It's going to be a great week."

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.