ARTESIA PIONEERS
3-12 overall last season, 2-10 in the Suburban League, tied for fifth place
19-53 overall last five seasons
Head coach: Micah Burpo (third season, 3-25)
Key loss: Lise Jacques, Amalla Okaro, Gabrielle Vega
Artesia is still seeking its first trip to the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section playoffs since 1996 and when last season ended, the prospects of ending that streak looked strong. Bur the departure of Lise Jacques and Amalla Okaro, who would have been key components to the offense, have left the school. Now, head coach Micah Burpo has to go back to the drawing board and hope he has enough to keep the Pioneers away from the bottom of the Suburban League.
“I see an improvement in the structure of the program,” Burpo said. “I see a huge improvement in the number of girls that we get, the commitment that they are now willing to put out. There is also a huge commitment to club volleyball as well, which is unheard of in this area.”
Burpo said the program will have a dozen players on the varsity team, 14 on the junior varsity and frosh/soph teams with another 30 trying out, which is night and day from the days when it took until the first day of school to find out who would even try out. The heart and soul to the team in 2010 will be senior middle blocker Ashley Crawford, who will generate at least 75 percent of the points. Crawford will start on the left front and play six of the nine rotations. The team will suffer a bit when she goes to the back row, according to Burpo. Also returning will be senior setter Brigith Geronimo, senior outside hitter Marina Ramos and juniors Holly Holtzer and Kimberly Lee. Burpo said he will move his two returning juniors to the outside to keep the ball in the play. Last season, Holtzer was a backup setter while Lee was a defensive specialist.
The top newcomers will be sophomores Faith Devera, a setter, Kyla Kelly and Lorraine Young.
“Every year the program gets tougher and requires to be more disciplined,” Burpo said. “We’ve been able to weed out the athletes who are under those types of goals; just having fun and things of that nature. The farther along we get in the program and the more years we get behind means the more discipline that’s going to be required. In addition, based on numbers, they have to fight for spots and that’s going to be the case this year.
“I see us in the fourth or third slot,” Burpo added. “I think Mayfair is going to be strong. We’re not going to be able to put the ball away 100 percent of the time. But we have very good ball control. We have girls, now, who have three years of experience, minimum two years of club experience who are going to be able to play at the higher level.”
CERRITOS LADY DONS
25-4 overall last season, 12-0 in the Suburban League, first place
Lost to Mayfield in the Division III-A championship, lost to Cathedral Catholic in the Southern California Division III state championship
72-41 overall last five seasons
Head coach: Khanh Vo (fourth season, 50-22)
Key losses: Samantha Adams, Janice Chung, Jade Garrett, Jenny Ho, Lisa Hom, Jackie Trimble
Sometimes the best athletic season for a team in high school history comes with a high price the following season. For Cerritos, it will have to deal with loss of four starters plus other supporting cast members. But never fear with head coach Khanh Vo at the helm. He feels he still has enough for another successful season which could lead to another great run in the postseason.
“I had a chance to see them in the spring time after the boys season,” Vo said. “I had about one to two months to work with them. They actually look pretty similar to last year’s team. Even though we have new players, the system is still there. They’re still committed and they’re a hard working group. We’re trying to build off of last year.”
Senior outside hitter Cherise Kam and senior middle blocker Jessica Wu, who was an outside hitter last season, are the two main returning players in the lineup. The Lady Dons also return senior outside hitter Jhea Illo, junior outside hitter Susan Suski and junior setter Trisha Justiniano.
The big replacement will be in the setting position where Justiniano and senior Telena Vo have to fill in the void left by Samantha Adams. Cerritos will run a 6-2 offense and the fourth-year head coach says the blocking will be better while the offense will be modified a bit; more complicated than in the past. As of now, the starting lineup will be Justiniano, Kam, Vo, Wu and a pair of sophomores-middle blockers Arnelle Duru and Bali Leffall.
“Jessica is going to have to fill [2009 graduate] Jenny’s [Ho] role, which I believe she can,” Khanh Vo said. “Cherise is going to have to fill [2008 graduate] Kristabelle’s [Tamula] role. I think this year, Susan is going to fill Cherise’s role from last year.”
So, the big question is can the Lady Dons win a second consecutive Suburban League title knowing they have a bigger bulls-eye on their backs? As was the case last season, Mayfair and La Mirada will have something to say about that.
“We felt like that last year,” Khanh Vo said. “When we had a strong start to the Gahr tournament, we had a similar target on our backs. I often saw coaches from other teams who were scouting us. I don’t think it’s anything new.
“I think it makes me hungry,” he added on repeating. “You never really know what you can achieve until you achieve it and once you achieve it, you want that feeling again. We have that extra drive in trying to prove that’s it’s not just a one-year thing.”
GAHR GLADIATORS
15-13 overall last season, 6-4 in the San Gabriel Valley League, third place
Lost to Quartz Hill in the Division III-AA first round
62-76 overall last five seasons
Head coach: Sonny Okamoto (25th season, 323-189)
Key losses: Leeane Currie, Tiffany McCray, Connie Reeves, Annie Reyes
Gahr girls volleyball, once a juggernaut in the area back in the 1990s, had its first winning record since 2002 season. Now, longtime head coach Sonny Okamoto is entering the 2010 campaign with hopes of winning the San Gabriel Valley League rather than just holding off Paramount for third place.
“The kids right now, the younger kids, have a different direction right now,” Okamoto said. “They’re telling me they want to win a league championship. I told them there are certain things that have to change and it has to do with molding the attitude. Molding the attitude in real life is knowing what being a champion is all about.
“You can’t let mediocrity linger on very long and the difficult part is we haven’t won a league championship in so long,” he added. “Not everybody gets to a league championship. What you reiterate to the kids is success only breeds success.”
The Gladiators will enter this season with an unproven setter as senior Elyse Quiones and sophomore Natalie Dilorio are varsity rookies. Okamoto said both of them are ‘caring people and close to having a setter’s personality’. Senior outside hitter Chelsea Heyward and senior middle blocker Erica Willig figure to give the team a lot of points but don’t rule out the play that senior right side hitter Marianne Tapales could give the team. Senior defensive specialist Katie Christiansen and senior middle hitter Jillian Tiedeman are the other returning players. Another top newcomer, according to Okamoto, might be sophomore outside hitter Aaliyah Heckard if she can score some points. Lack of depth will be a major concern; Okamoto needs his starting seven to be healthy.
“I don’t have a dominant player,” Okamoto said. “We need to be a team. We need to be able to pass the ball so Marianne can become very important. Erica has been a very solid non-club player. She will be around every play; she will compete for balls. Chelsea has to carry a little bit more load on her shoulders because she is one of the taller kids.”
Gahr has not won a league title since 1998 and since that time, has not won more than seven league matches in any season and during that time has advanced past the second round of the playoffs only once.
“The way you be a champion is you act like a champion,” Okamoto said. “Knowing what you have to do to be the best you can be.”
JOHN GLENN LADY EAGLES
10-9 overall last season, 6-6 in the Suburban League, fourth place
Lost to Gabrielino in the Division III-A first round
38-57 overall last five seasons
Head coach: David Cruz (third season, 18-18)
Key losses: Carla Acuna, Diana Jimenez, Monica Martinez, Vanessa Ochoa, Alyssa Robledo, Karina Rodriguez
The good thing for John Glenn’s girls volleyball program is that is seems to find a way to make the playoffs just about every season. The bad news for head coach David Cruz is that it’s not good enough. He wants more than a fourth place finish but isn’t sure it will happen this season, especially with the likes of Cerritos, La Mirada and Mayfair all contending for a Suburban League title.
“I asked the girls if they were content with being .500 and losing in the first round of the playoffs,” Cruz said. “If that’s where we want to go, I would like to know from the beginning. I hope that the girls would want to strive and contend for a league title. To be honest, I don’t know if we have the guns to win league.”
The Lady Eagles return only four players, so if a league title isn’t in the cards this season, then they are definitely looking towards the future. Senior middle blockers Arlene Gomez and Sharae Moten are the leaders of this group and as they go, so will the team. Cruz says he will have to try to find a way to have Gomez go all the way around. Senior Gaby Lucero and junior Kimberly Orozco, both of whom will play in the back row, are the other two returning players.
With the team losing both of its setters from last season, junior Ericka Sandoval and sophomore Gabby Cruz, the coach’s daughter, will have big shoes to fill. The other top newcomers will be senior defensive specialist Miriam Perez and juniors Denise Ponce and Moshannae Summerise.
“Ericka plays a lot like Vanessa and my daughter reminds me a lot of Raquel [Ochoa] of a few years ago,” Cruz said. “My daughter is an athlete; she’s able to cover a lot of ground. Last year she played in the front row but she understands the game and I imagine she’ll do well.
“Seeing Arlene on the court and having Sharae…I like my chances,” he continues. “Some teams can hit the ball and those are the Cerritos’, La Mirada’s and Mayfair’s. Other teams just roll the ball over the net; try to get a tip or a roll of the block. I feel we’re in that group right now but I’d like to see our team [be a hitting team].”
NORWALK LANCERS
3-13 overall last season, 2-10 in the Suburban League, tied for fifth place
31-64 overall last five seasons
Head coach: Quoc Nguyen (first season)
Key losses: Alex Gomez, Jennifer Gomez, Jessica Hernandez, Brittany Jimenez, Andrea Lomeli, Alexis Love, Amanda Rosa
For the seventh time this century, there is a changing of the guard with the Norwalk girls volleyball program as Quoc Nguyen replaces Ismael Nunez. Since last appearing in the playoffs in 2005, the Lancers have endured four consecutive struggling seasons which includes a combined 9-39 Suburban League record. Nguyen, who was an assistant under Nunez with the boys volleyball team last spring, hopes to changes that around.
“I thought it was a huge opportunity,” Nguyen said of the coaching opportunity. “We’re trying to piggyback off of the boys volleyball team, which recently won a Suburban League championship. We’re trying to get some type of a winning tradition going. The thing with me and Ish is that we’re still working together as far as keeping the program similar.”
Returning for the Lancers will be senior outside hitters Kassandra Caro, a libero last season, and Joanna Macias along with defensive specialist Priscilla Mendoza, junior setter Crystal Martinez and junior middle blocker Amy Siliezar. Nguyen says Martinez has the highest volleyball IQ on the team. The top two newcomers will be junior middle blocker Michelle Macias and junior defensive specialist Andrea Zepeda.
“All of these players haven’t really started a whole season,” Nguyen said. “It’s going to be a more even spread as far as points. I really have high hopes for Michelle. She’s a true athlete out there.”
A personal motivation for Nguyen to have a decent season will be the fact that Cerritos head coach Khanh Vo is his brother-in-law and plans to use Vo’s success of last season for his own team. But the Lancers are in the same boat as Artesia and John Glenn, which means fourth place and an automatic playoff berth will be tightly contested.
“Athletically, they can compete but I hope that with their dedication, it will push them to that playoff spot,” Nguyen said.
VALLEY CHRISTIAN LADY CRUSADERS
10-12 overall last season, 3-5 in the Olympic League, fourth place
71-52 overall last five seasons
Head coach: Erica Streelman (fourth season, 35-36)
Key losses: Lea Albers, Brooke Coates, Kiley Trudeau
Valley Christian head coach Erica Streelman summed up the 2009 season in one word-heartbreaking. For the first time 1995, the Lady Crusaders failed to reach the postseason. The sub .500 overall record was the first since 2000 and the program hasn’t had a winning Olympic League campaign since 2006. All of that figures to change as this was the first time the team has played in two summer leagues. Starting the 2010 season strong will be the key to V.C.’s season, Streelman indicated.
“We left our fate in the hands of Maranatha [last season],” Streelman said. “So, we went to the Maranatha-Brentwood match and if Maranatha had lost that match, we would have had a [play-in] with them for CIF. We were stunned as much as Brentwood was.”
This will be the finest squad Streelman has fielded and it will be a special one. Eight players return with half being seniors and the other half being juniors. The Lady Crusaders are loaded with big hitters in seniors Delaney Davis and middle blockers Samantha Hundertmark and Ally Streelman. Mix in junior outside hitters Alexa Chandler and Cassie Palmer, and there’s reason to believe this team will contend for an Olympic League championship. Getting them the ball will be senior setter Delayne Rock and junior setter Carley Berkenkamp as V.C. will run a 6-2 offense. The other returning player is junior libero Lexie Romberg.
“This is a special group for me,” Erica Streelman said. “It’s going to be an emotional year for me wherever we end up at the end. I’m excited for them. They’re hard workers. My seniors this year do not play club, so that right there will be interesting to see how it all plays out.”
The three newcomers will be senior middle blocker Amy Sybesma and juniors Kalei Manzia and Caitlyn Peters. The bulk of the points will come from Chandler, Davis and Sybesma.
“As far as hitting, those three outside…it’s always a battle in practice and it’s always ‘who are we going to start’ because we can go to any of them. Someone who is going to help us out a lot is Amy, being six feet tall. With her arms, she’s got the block. If we continue to work on her arm strength, she’s going to be another threat we can use.”
The Olympic League will sport a new look this season as longtime nemesis Brentwood as well as Campbell Hall depart and Los Angeles Baptist and Whittier Christian arrive, the latter being the defending IV-AA champions. V.C. still has Brentwood on the schedule as a non-league match.
“It’s nice to have your eyes set on a league title,” Erica Streelman said. “We have great teams in our league. We haven’t played L.A. Baptist yet, so that will be a new team for us. I know what Village has coming in; same thing with Maranatha. Whittier Christian is going to be our mountain this year. They’re going to be the Brentwood [of the past few seasons].”
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