Sue Grogan knows her team has plenty of work ahead, but so far
Gilroy’s girls varsity volleyball is two-for-two in preseason
tune-ups.
Gilroy – Sue Grogan knows her team has plenty of work ahead, but so far Gilroy’s girls varsity volleyball is two-for-two in preseason tune-ups.
The team left Monterey for the second time this week with a competitive, hard-fought win. Gilroy beat Monterey High School in four sets Thursday 20-25, 25-16, 25-14 and 25-23. Two nights earlier Grogan’s girls posted a similar victory over North Monterey County 26-24, 20-25, 25-20 and 25-15.
The coach is treating the two contests as litmus tests before league play begins with a home game against San Benito on Sept. 18.
“We kind of came out flat (Thursday night),” Grogan said. “There seems to be a lot of nerves going on. We were kind of going back and forth. It wasn’t any runaway kind of game.”
Regardless, the Mustangs are off to a successful start.
Lindsay Meazell and Brittany Lewis combined for 20 assists on the night, leading to almost all of Caitlin Chisolm’s eight kills. Chisolm led Gilroy in slams, matching the same total she had in the previous game. As a team, Gilroy had 25 kills overall.
Middle blocker Loryn Ferreira had 14 digs to lead the team, Chisolm had 10 and Jasmine Perez had 9.
Lindsey Foster and Sarah UnaDia controlled the net with five and four down-blocks, respectively, and received Grogan’s praise for their efforts.
“They were right there, side by side all night,” she said.
Even though Gilroy galloped home with a win again, the Mustangs’ coach noticed several similarities between her team and its opponents.
“(Monterey’s) got a good team out there,” she said. “We both have a lot of young players on our team and we’re dealing with a lot of the same issues. We got lots of learning to do”
Gilroy lost 2006 team leader in slams, Kayla Meazell, as well as setter Jennifer Smith to graduation. While both were key players in helping the Mustangs to a 16-16 overall record and a 6-6 mark in Tri-County Athletic League games, the squad should only improve on last year considering so many girls have returned for their second stint on varsity.
The team’s next match will be Tuesday at 6:30pm at Mt. Madonna with the junior varsity match starting at 5:30pm.
Notes: The junior varsity girls team won 25-20, 25-20 on Thursday night but lost 22-25, 18-25 at North Monterey County on Tuesday. The freshman team lost 21-25, 23-25 at NMC and did not play on Thursday because Monterey does not have a freshman squad.
