Undersized Pierce Cuts Opponents Down to Size in Volleyball

They are Yugos, Leona Helmsley’s heart, subdivided lots in Chatsworth. Louisa May Alcott could have written their press guide, they’re so small.

Oh, but how they have been effective. The Pierce College women’s volleyball team consists of a bunch of undersized dynamos who have earned the team its first berth in the state playoffs.

“This year, it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, good, everybody’s small,’ but I like it,” 5-foot-1 1/2 setter Amy Sodek said.

Despite fielding a starting six that averages a Lilliputian, in volleyball terms, 5-6 1/2, Pierce has been walking tall with a 17-2 record and second-place finish in the Western State Conference behind Cuesta, the only team to defeat Pierce.

“Most teams in the league, their shorter players are 5-6,” Coach Steve Gazzaniga said. “We jump very well. Though we average 5-6, we probably play like we’re 5-9.”

After Pierce finished 11-7 last year, Gazzaniga recruited an entirely new team. None of his nine players--eight freshmen and sophomore transfer Anna Suarez--had played for Pierce, and it didn’t take a wide-angle lens to fit this crew in a team photo.

“I was real apprehensive,” said Gazzaniga, who believes that his team is the shortest in the conference. “I knew we’d have to win with defense and control points on the serve.”

Like martial artists, the Pierce players have a knack for transforming an opponent’s strength into a weakness. Pierce’s pinball-machine defense gobbles up the ball, pops it around and spits it back across the net--repeatedly.

“One of the reasons is inherent in shorter people,” Gazzaniga said of his team’s emphasis on defense. “Tall people play at a different level. The people who aren’t as tall have to learn more ball control around the net, and they have to be great in the back row. Most of the time when you get those (rallies) two, three, four times around the net, we’re going to win because we put the ball on the money.”

No Pierce player ranks among the top 10 in the conference in solo blocks, but Pierce manages to touch nearly every ball. Opposing spikers must feel like they’re punching a pillow.

“There’s lots of teams that have the ability to hit over our block, and they get frustrated when it comes back at them,” Gazzaniga said. “If they’re smart, they make an adjustment. . . . They get mad so they want to hit it harder.”

On offense, Pierce avoids that sort of volleyball one-upmanship. Pierce has compiled a conference-leading hitting percentage of .335 with an assortment of kills, dinks and off-speed shots. Cuesta and Santa Monica are tied for a distant second at .249.

“It’s like facing Nolan Ryan and then bringing (knuckle ball pitcher) Charlie Hough in,” Gazzaniga said. “They’re going to get worked.”

The stars of the Pierce offense revolve around disparate poles: outside hitter Suarez and setter Sodek. Suarez is 5-8 but a quick leaper who plays taller. She frequently breaks into wide smiles while on the floor, and her play has kept her teammates on the beam.

Sodek, a left-hander who may well be the best setter in the conference, wears her worried frown of concentration like a mask.

“I just have a lot to think about,” Sodek said. “It’s very stressful. You don’t get much time to sit back and analyze. A lot of thought is put into it.”

Pierce wins with guile, and Sodek is the most cunning. It is her job to keep the ball away from the opponent’s block and set it for her hottest hitters.

That often means feeding Suarez. A part-time starter last year at Cal State Northridge and Pierce’s kill leader with 228 this year, Suarez has been around the block in more ways than one.

“She’s our star,” Gazzaniga said. “She leads with her attacking; all facets of her game are strong. She’s also a star in my mind for her steadiness.”

Faced with redshirting at Northridge, Suarez instead joined the Pierce team shortly before the season began.

“That’s a bonus for us,” Sodek said. “She’s such a leader and such an inspiration to everybody.”

Although Suarez has nearly twice as many kills as any of her teammates, middle blocker Andrea Banducci leads the team and conference with a .458 hitting percentage. Banducci (6-0) is the only Pierce player with a classic volleyball build, and she boasts a bullet serve.

Carina Sailer plays middle blocker despite being only 5-7 1/2. She is second in the conference in hitting percentage at .435.

“There is no way, really, she should be where she’s at, but she’ll beat blocks because she’s so quick,” Gazzaniga said.

Gina Johnson (5-5) and Alissa Levisohn (5-5) are the other starters and Shari Sakamoto (5-4) is the top reserve.

The squad is synergistic, remarkably so because everyone is new. They are not, however, new to each other. Sodek and Sailer were teammates at Royal. Suarez and Levisohn attended Chaminade and several team members have played club volleyball together.

They’ve come together for one year in the limelight. Suarez will definitely move on, and other players may as well.

“Teams like us are neat because we’re kind of an underdog,” Gazzaniga said.

Short teams like his are going the way of the California condor: They may soar now but are ultimately doomed to extinction.

They may be short, and ultimately short-lived, but they will attempt to make short work of their playoff foes.

“We compensate for lack of height with attitude and desire,” Suarez said. “I think maybe it’s even an advantage. Our lack of height makes us work harder to be better players.”