Live Oak will be in for some stiff competition in the Tri-County
Athletic League.
Live Oak will be in for some stiff competition in the Tri-County Athletic League. No longer is the league considered one of the weaker leagues as players have begun playing year around in club volleyball more and more.
“Our league is getting stronger,” said Live Oak coach Laura Coleman. “There are not going to be any week teams. That is a good thing. I don’t want a week league. Having a strong league is the only way you will ever do anything in CCS. I don’t want to walk away in this league and then get annihilated later. It gives the league more clout.”
Live Oak does have its share of club volleyball players, but it especially will miss two key graduating starters – setter Chelsea Carroll and outside hitter Kristina Conrad.
Coleman has toyed with the idea of going with the 6-2 format to have two setters in the middle. Both setters Justine Pingue and Angela Hilopolous haven’t had much experience at that position but are learning quick, Coleman said.
Live Oak was able to take advantage of rotation miscues in its first game of the year Wednesday night against Santa Cruz with just one setter to win the third and fourth game before Santa Cruz came back to win the fifth game 15-13.
Live Oak won’t intimidate many teams with its height this year with players like Pingue and Heather Molyneaux just a smidgen above the five-foot mark.
But it does have some good defensive players. Molyneaux has several good saves against Santa Cruz down the stretch.
Live Oak also featured some good passing in the game from players like Whitney Phares, Juliette Bowers and Kristen Russ.
“The passing was fine, but the kill percentage is what really took us out of the game,” Coleman said. “We couldn’t put a ball down to save our life.”
Live Oak has a fairly young team this year. Heather Harms, Kristina Giacalone and Russ are the three sophomores on the team, while the seniors are Phares, Pingue, Kaycee Dowdle and Hillary Hams, who has been of practice while sick.
“The tallest hitters on the team are sophomore and juniors,” Coleman said. “It’s not like I don’t have seniors – I just don’t have any tall ones. We’re still trying to find our nitch.”
Coleman said she will again play with the roster this weekend when the team goes to Reno. Players and their parents left Thursday night to keep to drive down to keep the team fresh for Friday’s games.
CCS teams are adapting a new speedier format this year that will eliminate the marathon two and half hour games. Each point counts in the new rally scoring system, and the winner is the first to 25. It also allows a little more creativity on serves.
“It is not going to help us any more than anyone else,” Coleman said. “Many of the players have played club so they are used to the rules. It will make it so you don’t have to transition like you did before.”
“Now you can double the first ball which makes for the rallies longer, and you have to watch for more junk to come around,” Coleman said. “You have to stay on your toes. Sometimes that is helpful if your team is aggressive. It doesn’t seem to be making a difference so far for us.”
Live Oak will look to players like Bowers, Russ, Tiven Catrett to provide the timely hits this year. Although Phares is short, she is also still a strong outside hitter, Coleman said.
“We don’t have that power hitter like we had last year,” Coleman said. “But we have a lot of descent hitters. Once we get the setting in sync, I think we will be OK.”
The Acorns competed in a tournament in Santa Cruz last weekend. Live Oak finished first in its pool, but lost to league rival Salinas in the championship round.
Salinas with its size will be a contender this year. Notre Dame also should be right there on top.
The top two teams advance to the playoffs while the other teams may get in with an at-large berth.
“I am hoping to surprise my expectations at this point,” Coleman said. “If we get it going though, I think we will surprise people. It just depends on how well we play together as a team. If we can stay strong, we may be able to surprise someone in CCS.”
Note: the Live Oak JV team will be coached by Daisey Mills, who helped coached the club team, and the freshmen will be coached by Janet Ibarra, who played for Coleman.
