Acorns are short on size but big on experience
Morgan Hill – If Live Oak girls volleyball coach Laura Coleman could ask for one more thing out of the nine seniors on her roster, it would be for them to grow an inch or two before the season starts.
“I would not call us a tall team,” Coleman said. “We have a lot of seniors but they’re all short girls playing on the back row.”
While height may not be the Acorns strong suit, Coleman does believe the mounds of experience the strong senior class brings will be important.
“They have all been to the CCS playoffs,” Coleman said. “They’re not as intimidated, they don’t get as nervous.”
Live Oak opens the season at home Wednesday against a familiar opponent, but in an unfamiliar setting when it plays former Tri-County Athletic League rival San Benito at 6:30pm.
The Acorns have moved to the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, but expressed excitement about still getting to play an old rival.
“I think a lot of people are going to come to that game,” senior setter Sabrina La Corte said. “It’s going to be fun playing an old rival.”
Senior middle hitter Katarina Cinkova, who led the team in kills and blocks last season, thinks Wednesday’s showdown to open the season could be even more intense than their previous league battles.
“I think it’s going to be even better than league because we have nothing to lose so we’re going to go all out,” Cinkova said.
Coleman was hesitant to make predictions for the upcoming season, but said she hopes the Acorns finish near the middle of the pack.
“I don’t expect us to win the league, but I hope we don’t finish dead bottom,” Coleman said.
Senior outside hitter Talia Reyes-Ortiz said she thinks the closeness of the team, in particular the large senior contingent, will be a big benefit.
“We’re all a really tight group of girls,” Reyes-Ortiz said. “I think it helps a lot. We have a lot of confidence. We know we can be successful.”
While venturing into the new league creates plenty of unknowns, the Acorns hope to be able to put the pressure on some teams who don’t know much about Live Oak.
“We’re kind of the underdogs, we’re the new kids on the block,” Reyes-Ortiz said. “They should be afraid. We’re competitive, crazy girls.”
The biggest disadvantage, Coleman said, was the practice schedule that the BVAL imposes where practices can’t begin until Aug. 14, instead of the usual two weeks before the start of school that they were accustomed to.
“In a way it feels like we’re two weeks behind,” Coleman said. “So having a game on Wednesday is way too early, but I think it will help us judge where we’re at.”
