With Salinas and Notre Dame bringing back plenty from last
season’s strong teams, the Lady Balers will look to counter with a
more balanced squad
HOLLISTER
No one has specifically tied the San Benito girls volleyball team to underdog status this year. Of course, not garnering the dark-horse role may be slightly difficult when the Lady Balers boast a 101-48 overall record over the last four seasons, and even advanced all the way to the Division I semifinals last year before falling to league rival Salinas in four games.
Playing the role of longshot may be hard to come by within the Central Coast Section, especially with those numbers.
But in the Tri-County Athletic League, where Notre Dame and Salinas return plenty from a pair of teams that posted matching 11-1 records last season en route to a split league championship, the Lady Balers will quietly accept their underdog role.
“We’re planning a sneak attack,” said senior middle blocker Emily Tonascia.
“We might be the underdog this year,” added senior libero Sam Klauer, “but that hasn’t dropped our expectations as far as goals.”
With a more balanced rotation than last year’s team, which finished in third place in the TCAL with a 7-5 record, San Benito has more options at each position this season. Perhaps even more important, those options may just convert into a better offense.
“Last year, it was a game of attrition,” San Benito head coach Dean Askanas said. “This year, I think we can put the ball away.”
The Lady Balers boasted one of the league’s best defenses last year, but struggled to rack up high kill totals from match to match, one year after graduating Emily Kortsen, Bri Romero and Ali Sharp, who combined for more than 1,000 kills in 2007.
Askanas said what the team has gained in offense this year was lost on the defensive side, however, yet the team is further along in its attack to provide a more balanced approach going into this weekend.
San Benito begins its 2009 campaign at Spikefest I, which will be held at both Independence and Milpitas high schools on Saturday.
Read the full story in Friday’s edition of The Weekend Pinnacle.
