ABERDEEN — Falling a couple of games short of the postseason last year hasn’t been sitting well with the Grays Harbor College volleyball team, and a roster full of returning players is looking to take the next step this season.
The Chokers finished 7-7 in the Northwest Athletic Conference last season and ended up one win shy of the conference tournament. The Chokers’ road to redemption begins with a non-conference matchup at Olympic Community College on Friday.
Returning sophomores can be invaluable for junior college programs, and the Chokers possess six of them, creating a starting lineup comprised mostly of returning players.
Grays Harbor head coach Christine Nelson is looking forward to working with her returners and is particularly excited about what new libero Lole Taumua can do to help turn defense into offense.
“We want to establish our defense early on,” she said. “We picked up a libero so our defense is going to help us get our offense going. We have big hitters so in order to get offense we have to be able to dig balls.”
If the Chokers are able to dig out kill attempts their outside hitters could be a source for a lot of points.
With the return of Roina Ma’afala and Leleo Maeva, who redshirted last season, Grays Harbor plans to apply a lot of pressure to their opponent’s back row.
Maeva said Roina Ma’afala and and her sister, Crimson Ma’afala, are players who she can count on to step up when games get tense.
“Both of the outside hitters are from Hawaii, so I’m really confident in them, on and off the court,” she said. “I’ve known one since high school, so I’m always confident in my outside hitters. They’ll always be there in the game when I need them.”
Grays Harbor has an established Hawaiian pipeline but fans familiar with local volleyball scene will see some familar faces on the roster as well. Ocosta graduate Erika Snider is one of three new setters the Chokers added to the roster and will likely be passing to players such as Hoquiam alum Kamimi Papp at outside hitter.
Grays Harbor is also entering the season confident in its defense in the middle of the court. Standing at 6-foot-4, returning blocker Brooklynn Graham should be an intimidating prescence to opposing offenses.
Nelson noted that Savanah Davis has also been looking good at the position and is looking forward to the flexibility the team will have with its lineup, though outside of Graham, the team is lacking length up front.
“We’re not as tall. We have players from 5’10 to 6 feet tall in front which isn’t small, it’s just smaller than we’ve been,” she said. “They’re all fast and athletic, so they jump really well. Sometimes speed and agility is better than size.”
Nelson also credited her assistant coach Cassie Sawin for developing players at middle blocker and said it is a position they have been consistently solid at over the years.
Having sophomore talent can make things easier on coaches, but Nelson believes there is another benefit to having a significant number of players from last year’s roster. She said it won’t be any trouble getting this group motivated to do what it takes to get to the postseason.
“We probably have more returners back than most of the teams in the conference. Having that second-year kid that has been there is huge,” she said. “These guys are hungry. They miss out by a game and our returners don’t want to miss it again.”
Erika Snider digs out a shot at practice at Sam Ben Gym on Monday. Snider is one of two local players who signed to Grays Harbor this summer. (Hasani Grayson | The Daily World)
