GILROY—While Jessica Stofer could have left Gavilan last year when she did the math, staying with the Rams just made sense.
Her decision paid off as she signed her letter of intent to play for Pacific Union College in Angwin this fall in front of her family—including the dog—friends and teammates Monday at Gavilan.
“It feels so good to finally know where I’m going to go. I’m so excited,” she said. “When I went there, every girl from PUC came up to me and said hi and shook my hand. They were so sweet. That’s the kind of team I want to be a part of.”
Stofer—who is in her third year at Gavilan—technically graduated last spring, but had a year left of athletic eligibilty after redshirting her freshman year due to injury. She had offers from four-year schools last year, but stuck around to help Gavilan to back-to-back Coast Conference Championships in addition to a stellar 21-7 overall record, 11-1 in conference play. She had 209 kills and 58 total blocks for the Rams this season and was named All-Conference last year.
“She’s just been huge. Her demeanor on the court, her attitude, her effort,” Rams coach Kevin Kramer said. “Having her for a third (year), it was like having a junior on a junior college team—we don’t get to do that very often.”
Two conference titles plus two more years of eligibility at the four-year level in addition to rooming with Gavilan teammate Brittani Siaz—not to mention a good education—was the perfect equation for Stofer. She’ll be studying math at PUC and hopes to teach at junior college when she’s earned her degree.
“(I’m excited about) the sports aspect and they’re really, really high up on the educational scale,” she said. “I really enjoy math, so I’m excited to graduate from a really good school.”
Stofer is the fourth Rams player to sign this year, following Sabina Gerard, Tazi Apple and Siaz. While her contributions on the court will be missed, Kramer said that her personality will be hard to replace. Stofer, he said, had the perfect formula of a student athlete. She has a strong work ethic, was a no-drama player and a great student—and she’s funny, too.
“If you had to kind of write a description of what you want one of your student athletes to be like, it’s Jessica—she’s that. She’s everything you would want in a player,” Kramer said. “She’s one of the funniest kids we’ve had in addition to everything she’s brought academically and athletically. She kind of knows when to throw in the funny one-liners here and there to ease everybody’s tension. I think that’s going to be something that’s really hard to replace.”
