Erika Arellano

Age 16 | School Southwest High | Grade Junior

Anyone who has attended an Eagles volleyball game in the past year or so has likely experienced a unique auditory phenomenon.

After every point won, a sort of chirruping call-and-response emanates from near mid-court, a staccato yelp, punctuated by hand-clapping, which is picked up by the entire Southwest side.

If you’re for the Eagles, it provides a sense of serenity, of communion, heralding victory bells in the not-too-distant future. And if you’re not … each instance seems to approximate a death knell.

At the (literal) center of it all is Southwest’s Erika Arellano, who reigns as Agitator-in-Chief.

Wearing number one and standing in the middle of the Eagles formation, the diminutive setter makes her presence felt in just about every facet of the game.

It’s she who initiates what could be called this “Eagle war cry.” Arellano has been playing volleyball for years and is keenly aware of the game’s psychological element.

“As a team, we have a lot of communication. We try to be vocal on the court,” she said. Their constant chatter helps keep the team grounded and in the moment, while having the side benefit of being something that “annoys the other team.”

And Arellano is more than just a vocal leader.

As setter she serves as the lynchpin of the Eagles’ attack, putting her teammates in the best position to slam home winners, time and again.

Over Southwest’s last four matches she’s been especially prolific — totaling 108 assists, for an average of 27 per match — as the Eagles have opened their Imperial Valley League season on a roll.

In addition to her excellent setting, she’s also been doing quite well from the service line. She leads the team with 10 aces over that same four-game span.

Tuesday was one of the toughest matches the Eagles have had in a while, and they needed to give everything they had to take care of Calexico. Arellano admitted to feeling “stressed” for certain portions of the match but credited her team for sticking together and taking care of business.

She is looking forward to her team’s next game (a showdown with Brawley later this evening at home), expecting it to be chock full of excitement and, if things go her way, noise.