The last two seasons for our Lady Mustangs Volleyball Team have been quite the challenge, as the team has fallen 1-5 in conference play in the last two seasons. But how will this year be different? Given that the season ends in less than a month and only conference play remains. Questions arise about how this fairly young team, especially with only six seniors, will try to end the season strong.
On Monday, The Sterling got the opportunity to speak with a several players. First up was senior Katheryn Valdez, or Kathy, an outside and right-side hitter and two year varisty player who provided many in-depth responses.
When asked what personal goals she has for herself and the team going into conference play she responded, “For myself is not to let my head down, and I know a lot of these girls are younger and looking up to me as a senior.” She added, “As a team going into conference, I think it’s just (to) keep our standards high, and we know we’re a good team and not to lower our standards even if we play a higher level team.” It’s remarkable how Kathy embodies a true team player, she is supportive of her teammates knowing they look up to her, and is constantly reminding them that they can beat just about anyone as long as their mindset is right.
In contrast, the next interviewee was first year varisty player Gabriela Carrasquillo, or Gabi, who was pretty straighforward in her response when asked how she plans to contribute to her team’s success. She mentioned, “Keeping my serves in and trying to limit the errors. Because you lose the game by errors. Keep my hits in, and just bring positivity to the team.” Gabi is an outside and opposite hitter so it’s evident that she has numerous opportunites of scoring points for her team in games. Which explains why she’s so keen on limiting her own errors, since she knows in volleyball, every point matters.
The last canidate is someone with a different perspective on the game and her team. Three year varsity starter, and varsity captain, Allison Bonin displayed her leadership qualities in her responses. Regarding her contributions to the team’s success she hopes to bring positivity to the team, “As a captain, I just plan to keep all the girls positive. We tend to have a more Morton mindset and play down when we play good teams,” she explains. It appears this young team tends to get into their heads at times, but its good to know the seniors and captains of this volleyball team are working hard to change this. But this hard work of fixing mindsets and maintaining focus starts at practice, and so it raises the question on what areas have the coaches focused on improving in practice during this critical part of the season.
Continuing the interview, Allison was adamant about what areas of the game her team has been focusing on. She explained, “We have a really good defensive team this year, so our focus has been offense a lot and making sure we really swing, especially because we’re on the shorter side of all these teams.” She acknowledges the potential her team holds defensively, but knows, compared to their conference opponents, they hold some disadvantages. Though as long as they can work to balance their defensive abilities with their offensive capabilities, will they then become contenders in conference again.
