By Ed Piper
La Jolla volleyball coach Kelly Drobeck, asked what Viking libero Alex DiNofia does, said, "Everything. She's our stabilizer. She's our most efficient passer. (Alex) is smooth in her moves. She makes good reads."
The 5'5" sophomore, who is a newcomer to the varsity, said when advised of her coach's "stabilizer" comment after La Jolla's 3-1 win at University City Wed., Sept. 5, "Mostly, (my role) is on defense. I pass to where my teammates are. We also communicate a lot."
Junior setter Maya Gessner, who is another highly verbal member of the varsity, identified sophomore outside hitter Amaya McMillan as a teammate who is stepping more and more into her role.
As far as the win over the Centurions, Gessner said after the game, "I think we overall were pretty good. UC is a pretty quiet team, as far as spirit, compared to other teams we've played. We started out slowly (in the first three games, though they won two of those). We snapped back in the fourth game."
The 6'0" setter said she tries to be aware of match-ups of the hitters she is setting to at the net. "If Leyla (Blackwell) has a short blocker (across the net from her), then I will set to her."
Gessner's mother, Alexandra, was waiting patiently nearby as her daughter answered a reporter's post-game questions. Maya has a brother, Luka, in the seventh grade at Muirlands Middle School.
Asked where her daughter's height comes from, Mrs. Gessner said she herself is 1.78 meters tall. Born in Germany, she said, "I think that's 5'9" or 5'10". Her husband is a similar height.
"I'm from south Germany," she said. "Bavaria?" the reporter queried. "No, the Black Forest area. Baden Baden."
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