Coming off a season in which the Acorns surprised everyone by
emerging from the pack to make a run deep into the postseason, the
Live Oak High girls volleyball team is hoping to catch lightning in
a bottle again this year. And, if the invaluable experience of
high-pressure, postseason competition is a predictor of success,
don
’t count this team out.
LO girls volleyball team tries to keep last season’s momentum going
Coming off a season in which the Acorns surprised everyone by emerging from the pack to make a run deep into the postseason, the Live Oak High girls volleyball team is hoping to catch lightning in a bottle again this year.
And, if the invaluable experience of high-pressure, postseason competition is a predictor of success, don’t count this team out.
Last season, the Acorns sneaked into the section playoffs after struggling to a sub-.500 record in Tri-County Athletic League play. But they caught fire in the postseason, upsetting No. 1 seed and league rival Salinas in the Central Coast Section semifinals to make the section finale and qualify for the Northern California playoffs for the first time in school history.
Though Live Oak lost to Piedmont Hills in five games in the title match, then fell in the first round of the Nor Cal playoffs, Acorn head coach Laura Coleman and her team celebrated their unprecedented success.
This season, Coleman said she’s not expecting anything remotely similar from the Acorns.
“To do what we did last year, that was a miracle,” Coleman said. “We can’t expect that again. That’s not fair.”
However, this season’s team has some advantages over last season’s plucky squad.
First, this team is more experienced.
Last season’s team had just one returning starter — Kaycee Dowdle, who was also asked to change position — and just three seniors in Dowdle, Whitney Phares and converted setter Justine Pingue.
This year, there are several key returning starters and regular contributors who experienced first-hand the euphoria of winning in the postseason.
Among them are seniors Juliette Bowers, a middle blocker who earned a reputation as one of the league’s top frontline players, and Teven Catrett (outside hitter), and juniors Kristen Russ (OH) and Kristina Giacalone (MB), along with senior back row specialists Heather Molyneoux and Lindsay Barger.
Second, this year’s team is considerably stronger at the net than last year’s squad, according to Coleman. Along with Bowers and Giacalone, sophomore Caterina Cinkova has shown promise up front.
In the Acorns’ home opener against Santa Cruz, Catrett contributed a team-high 10 kills to help lead Live Oak (2-3 overall) to victory.
The Acorns split a pair of matches at the Santa Cruz Tournament last weekend.
“Hopefully our strength this year will be a taller front row,” she said. “Usually, we have to rely on our defense. This year, we’re hoping for more offense up front.”
But one of this year’s big keys will be how junior setter Kristie Johnson fills Pingue’s shoes.
Johnson played the position on the JV last year but Coleman said she is not a natural setter.
But Coleman pointed out that Pingue wasn’t a natural setter either, but she did very well in the role during her first season at the position.
Coleman said sophomore Talia Reyes-Ortiz will also see some time at setter in a 6-2 alignment.
Despite a strong contingent of returners and a big frontline, Coleman said the Acorns could finish near where they ended up last year in the TCAL because of the league’s high-quality competition.
She pointed out that Salinas is the favorite again, while Notre Dame-Salinas and Hollister-San Benito are also expected to be strong.
“We should be comparable to last year because we still have the big guns,” Coleman said. “Hopefully, we’ll do better in league than last year. But it’s a tough league. We’ll see.”
But if the Acorns can make the postseason, who knows how far they could go?
