LJ g VB: Tryouts day #2

CAPTAINS AHOY - Middle Leyla Blackwell (L)

talks to fellow senior Maya Gessner (right rear)

during day 2 of Viking volleyball tryouts.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

On day two of fall tryouts, Coach Kelly Drobeck ran her varsity and junior varsity candidates through rapid 3-on-3, 5-on-5, and other drills in an evening workout Tues., Aug. 6, that began at 6:05 p.m. and was to continue for a couple of hours.

"We only graduated three seniors," said the as-usual-smiling Drobeck, third-year head volleyball coach at La Jolla High after a Coaching Legend career of over 15 CIF titles and a similar number of league championships at her alma mater, Cathedral Catholic (though it was USDHS when she was a student).

The coach looked elated, considering that means the great bulk of a squad that went 29-6 overall, 8-0 in the Eastern League last year is back. It was a great rebound from the year prior, and it entailed Drobeck reconstructing her program and hand-picking student athletes who contributed to a team-oriented, cooperative atmosphere.

Gone are Maya Lightfoot, who attended Tuesday practice and who heads to Tufts University in Boston to pursue a Biopsychology major while playing NCAA indoor volleyball; Monaghan "Mo" Cromeans, also present, prepped to travel to Arizona State University where she will play sand volleyball; and Natalie Wittkow, a front-line player.

Coach Kelly Drobeck (far left) speaks to varsity/JV

candidates at the start of tryouts on day 2. The Vikings

return all but three players from a varsity squad

that went 29-6 last year.

"We play our first match at University City next Friday (Aug. 16)," said Drobeck, "so we will only have three practices as a team before that."

Leading the Vikings will be returning seniors Leyla Blackwell, 6'3" middle, and setter Maya Gessner, both very much the captains in level of play and leadership of their teammates. Gessner does it all, attacking and defending in addition to making her teammates look good with her sets. She's also a serve monster.

Outside hitter Kylie Vaickus, last year's "baby phenom" as a freshman, looked herself at practice. She'll provide a lot of the firepower up front with the dominating Blackwell.

Junior Alex Dinofia returns on the back line. She far outpaced everyone else on the roster last year in dig stats.

We could highlight the rest of the returning roster, as well, but there will be plenty of moments during the upcoming season to do that.

"We're back in the Western League," said the coach. This is the year for the Vikings to peak, with the senior talent and leadership. "Next year we'll be thinner, but we'll take that later," Drobeck grinned as tryouts continued.

By the way, the newly-resurfaced playing floor in the Big Gym looked beautiful. It had a thick layer of recoating applied, and shines quite a bit.