The Aragon varsity volleyball team will look very different this season. Under new head coach Kelsey Stiles, they will try to build upon last year’s 15-15 overall record, (6-8 Bay Division).
Although this is her first year coaching varsity, Stiles has worked as an assistant in the Aragon volleyball program for the past three years.
This year’s team is also very young, with two freshmen and four sophomores on the varsity team. Stiles adds, “I don’t look at this year as a rebuilding year just because we’re young. We have enough older girls with more experience. We can use the younger girls as a weapon that nobody has seen before.”
There is a key advantage to having a younger team. “Bad habits aren’t ingrained in younger players like they can be in older players,” says senior Christina Garcia-Rovetta.
The team will also be without Chanel Joyce, an outside hitter who received a full scholarship to the University of Southern Mississippi last year. “We have young outside hitters to fill her spot,” adds Stiles, “so I’m not too worried about it.”
One key strength for this year’s team is their chemistry. Garcia-Rovetta says, “Last year’s team was more cliquey. It will be tough to fill their skill positions, but our chemistry this year is better.”
Stiles agrees, saying, “Volleyball is a very mental game, and if the girls don’t like each other, you can see it on the floor. In the past, I’ve seen groups of girls all with different goals and if they can’t come together as one team, they won’t be successful.”
The Dons also have some weaknesses for the upcoming season. “Our main weakness is height,” says sophomore Anna Joshi. “Many of the seniors we lost were tall.”
To compensate for that weakness, Garcia-Rovetta says, “We have a strong back row, so if we don’t block as much as we did last year, we can defend it well.”
The Dons will once again face some very tough competition in the Bay Division. Menlo-Atherton, Burlingame and Carlmont all finished with better records last year. Stiles adds, “We’ve played Carlmont in the past, and we won the first two games and lost the next three because the girls’ chemistry fell apart.”
This year’s cohesiveness and good team chemistry could be enough to capture the Bay division title. Sophomore Madison Lee says, “Our better team chemistry will definitely help us this year.”
The Dons started their season off very strong, finishing first in a tournament on Sept. 7. Their victory was comprised of wins against the Kennedy Titans and the College Park Falcons. They will take their 2-0 record into the Highlands tournament in Bakersfield on Friday, Sept. 13 and Saturday, Sept. 14.
