LJ g VB: Season preview

LJ freshman coach Carol Welcher, who played pro

in Europe and the AVP in the U.S., works with

newbie prospects Wed., Aug. 9 at Clairemont

High (due to refinishing at LJHS).

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Kelly Drobeck, veteran volleyball coach at La Jolla High, is sitting pretty happy at this point: most or all of her starters from last year are returning, and her core of eight seniors and others represent the intangibles that every team wants and needs to move forward.

Q: What is your season outlook?

Our goal is to get in the Open Division playoffs this year.

Twenty-four teams are in Division 1, then at the end of the regular season, eight teams are picked for the Open Division playoffs by the power rankings. Right now we're in Division 1 and at the bottom. But those rankings change (as the regular season goes on).

Q: Who are your leaders?

Bradleigh "Brad" Ryan (outside hitter) will be a leader. Mia Jessen (libero) will be a leader. Those are my two top leaders. But I think all of the seniors (eight) are capable of leading in their own way, and keeping the energy up, and keeping the intensity up, so that we hopefully try to play our best every time.

Q: Facets of the game: How about hitting?

Hitting is one of our strengths. All of our hitters are very strong. Stella Dillon is a junior. She'll be a right side player. Obviously, Brad is going to be great. Anais (Reneaum) in the middle is very strong.

Q: How about blocking?

I would say Anais is one of the stronger blockers. Stella is a strong blocker. We should have a relatively solid front line.

And our backcourt defense is really good, too. Lana and Mia are excellent defenders. We're just really scrappy.

Q: Serving...

We may have a designated server for one of our middles who will give us an even stronger serve. They're all really skilled, so it's going to be a fun year with them.

Q: And then the intangibles. Like you said, the seniors are going to provide those.

I think so. The seniors will lead. I think the core group of starters that we have returning will really kind of set the tone. Adding those additional new players to that starting lineup will really solidify everything in all six rotations.

So, whereas before I think we were a little weak in a couple of rotations, this year we should be pretty strong in all those rotations.

Q: How does it work for the new crop?

There are definitely a few freshmen who are very strong and will probably play on one of our higher level teams. I'm excited about that.