LJ g VB: Tryouts start

Coach Kelly Drobeck (bottom left) heads her
varsity and JV volleyball hopefuls into running
bleacher steps in Edwards Stadium on first day of
fall tryouts. (Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

"We're going to bump it up a little this year," said Kelly Drobeck, head La Jolla High volleyball coach, as candidates for varsity and junior varsity scaled the Edwards Stadium steps behind her.

Drobeck had communicated to the girls during the first day of tryouts Mon., Aug. 6, a greater level of attention to conditioning as one element so that "we can perform more at the level that we should".

It's almost hard for the veteran girls volleyball coach to be stern. Even when she was talking about the need to "make changes from last year", she had a smile on her face much of the time in the Big Gym.

But the players, including returning 6'2" middle hitter-blocker Leyla Blackwell, seemed to get her drift as they underwent hitting drills, six-on-six competition, and other segments during the two-hour afternoon workout, topped off by running stadium steps in the sun on a warm day.

Lily Stratton, a senior libero/defensive specialist, was another returner present along with the towering Blackwell, who was a mainstay for the Vikings at the net last year as a sophomore.

Alex Young, a sophomore who played on the junior varsity last year, was among the "newbies" playing their skills on the court Monday. Lida Mesri was another sophomore present.

One of the more demanding parts of the initial practice, but totally related to the girls being able to demonstrate their volleyball skills, was continuous play in which, once a ball fell dead, one of Drobeck's assistants would almost immediately throw another ball into play. You had to be ready, with your head up, once that new ball came in, because there wasn't any time to catch your breath or enjoy the point just made.

In the drill, carried on simultaneously on the two width-wise courts at each end of the Big Gym, nobody was pausing to serve. The assistant coach, with a backup ball ready, would fire it to a particular player on one side of the net or other.

For instance, the ball might intentionally be thrown low to a player, to force her to go down quickly to receive and pass the active ball.

"I don't care if you were on varsity last year, or two years ago, or three years ago," said the head coach to the 20 assembled girls at the outset. "I want to see what you can do now."

The new urgency comes as a result of a dismal 4-21 record in 2017, a nadir for the program after many successful seasons.