One goal at a time for the Pirates
Bryce Alderton
Reaching the state championship is in the far reaches of Chuck
Cutenese’s radar screen; he prefers to concentrate on more sequential
goals, like settling on a starting lineup for the Orange Coast
College women’s volleyball team.
“One of the things we learned last year was we looked ahead and
struggled to get through matches,” said Cutenese, the 2001 Orange
Empire Conference Coach of the Year, after he led the Pirates to a
second-place finish at the state tournament. “We’ve all set goals for
ourselves and right now it’s finding a starting lineup. (Players)
have not talked about the state tournament except to talk about
getting back there and the preparation for this season. Players are
pushing to be on the starting lineup.”
Balance and experience come to mind when Cutenese describes his
team, the strongest group Cutenese said he’s seen in 10 years
coaching at Coast.
“Since I’ve been a head coach, one through 14, this is the
strongest team I’ve had. The team comes in with the most experience
in both high school and club and that is promising. We’re very
excited as a coaching staff. Offensively we’re much more balanced
which will make us a tougher team.”
The Pirates return four sophomores to a team of 10 freshmen.
Cutenese will look to freshmen Michelle Zapiain and Kelly Overby
to fill the void left by all-state performer from a year ago, Katja
Miller.
Zapiain played at University High in Irvine and originally was
headed to West Virginia University, but decided to stay close to home
and play for OCC. Overby played on Coast’s badminton team last
season, taking a year off from volleyball, but regained the desire
and passion to compete again.
“We’re looking for (Zapiain) and (Overby) to step into that role,”
Cutenese said. “Both of them are capable physically but don’t have
the experience Muller has but they will get it and learn the system
and play within it. Both are freshman so were excited about that.”
Even though Cutenese said Muller will be missed, he said he has
players that can fill the void.
“It’s hard to replace someone that does everything that (Muller)
has done,” Cutenese said, “ We lose our big gun but we’ve picked up
more players who can do well with the ball.”
Leading the charge of Coast’s four sophomores are co-captains
Krystle Davis and Casey Petersen.
Davis, a left-handed opposite, turned in a dominant debut season
last year, gaining All-Orange Empire Conference and All-Southern
California First Team accolades while recording 236 kills, hitting a
robust .301. Petersen placed third on OCC last season with 132 kills
and posted 193 digs.
“(Davis) and (Petersen) are focused on their sophomore seasons in
both conditioning and volleyball, which is why they were both chosen
as captains, and they’ve been through it during the state
tournament,” Cutenese said. “Their motivation keeps them driven and
feeds to our freshmen.”
Sophomore defenders Tiffany Skoug and Janelle Jeremiah will
compete for the starting libero position, new to the women’s college
game this season.
The libero is a defensive player that can enter and exit the
lineup with unlimited substitutions, but is not allowed to serve,
attack or set within the attack line.
Cutenese’s 10 freshmen have learned the system relatively quickly.
“(The freshmen) have progressed a lot quicker than I anticipated
and have learned how to play together quickly,” Cutenese said.
Freshman setter Elisha Counts might have the biggest shoes to fill
with the departure of 2001 all-conference performer Amber McCarthy,
who is redshirting this season.
Counts has been out of high school for two years, but moved down
to the area from Sacramento. She will direct the Bucs’ offense as
freshman Jessica Lippi will backup Counts.
Coast’s offense also features attackers Jessica Lingo, Michelle
Vanderford, Marti Merriott, Christine Ryan, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker
Nicole Buckley and Melissa Sherman.
Lingo and Merriott will push for playing time in the six-woman
lineup, Cutenese said.
Joining Cutenese on the coaching staff this season will be Bill
Brown, who takes over the top assistant position, volunteers Ki Yi
and 13-year veteran Adrian Carrillo, and three former Coast players
in Bryn Gillis, Ryan Hiskey and Fernando Sabla.
Cutenese said the first match against host Southwestern Friday at
5 p.m. and the contests to follow will show which players can play
gel together.
“I think that players do well in a game situation more than they
do in practice,” Cutenese said. “It gives us the opportunity to find
a lineup. I have a really good coaching staff and we all have
different opinions on who should be starting and which ones work best
together.”
Freshman setter out of Tustin High Jamison Flojo (5-3) will
redshirt with the team, Cutenese said.
The flu bug bit Ryan this week and Cutenese sent her home Monday
with hopes she can return to practice by Wednesday and be ready for
Friday’s opener.
“I told (Ryan) to go home, get lots of fluids and come back
Wednesday,” Cutenese said.
Besides Ryan’s illness, Cutenese said no players have suffered
injuries.
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