With more experience and a healthy Maria Mayer, Ed Gover is expecting a faster start from his SBCC women’s volleyball team. Last season, the Vaqueros dropped eight of their first nine matches before finishing on a 9-2 run that earned them second place in the WSC North with an 8-2 mark.
“Last year, Maria didn’t enter the lineup until the middle of September,” noted Gover, who is starting his 18th year at the helm. “When she got back in the lineup, that’s when we started our streak.”
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Mayer, a 6-foot left-handed opposite hitter from San Marcos High, is one of five returning players. The others are Amelia Shugrue, Alissa Coker, Jessica Tune and libero Chelsea Forrey. Shugrue, who moved from setter to outside hitter, was a second-team All-WSC selection on last year’s 10-10 squad, along with Tune and Mayer.
The Vaqueros open the season on today at the Pasadena Tournament with back-to-back matches against Riverside (3 p.m.) and Pasadena (5 p.m.). Their next six matches will be at home, starting with Gavilan on Sept. 5 at 1 p.m. and finishing with the SBCC Quad Tournament on Sept. 19.
Kelsey Soos, a freshman from Santa Ynez High, is the new setter. She’ll have a couple of tall, quick targets in the middle in freshmen Jenn Waddill (6-1, San Marcos) and Nicole Bergmann (6-0, Nordhoff). Other possible starters include Jake Kelly, who also plans to play basketball, and defensive specialists Hillary Tomas and Case Jenkins.
“We have some veteran players on the outside in Bentley (Shugrue’s nickname) and Jessie,” said Gover. “On the right side, Maria was strong last year and even stronger this year. Plus we’ve added two freshmen in Jennifer and Nicole. We have two big, quick middles that we didn’t have last year.
“We need to utilize our size and speed in the middle and take advantage of having a strong right-side player. Passing is the key, once we nail down our serve-receive passing, I believe we will put a great product on the floor.”
