Vikes win volleyball season opener

CALIPATRIA — The Holtville High Viking girls volleyball team traveled to take on the Calipatria High Hornets marking the official beginning of the 2019 high school volleyball season in the Valley.

The visiting Vikes took the match, winning three games to one, 25-16, 1825, 25-16 and 25-13.

The match also marked the debut of former Calipatria JV coach Kirsten Amezcua as the Hornet’s new varsity coach, replacing JR Bañaga, who coached the past six seasons.

“We are using the same offensive system the girls have played since eighth grade, but we are trekking the defense and we so we weren’t always in the correct defensive position,” Amezcua said. “We have six seniors on the roster, but only two starters returning, so we’re a young team experience-wise.” One of the Calipatria seniors is outside hitter Vivian Gaytan who is no stranger to Amezcua’s system and was happy to open her season at the Hornet’s gym.

“We’re very familiar with Coach’s system as all of us have been playing it for five years,” Gaytan said. “I think being at home tonight pumped us up ... sometimes we got down on the court and the crowd pumped up back up.”

Holtville coach Chelsey Strahm is in her third season with the Vikes after having coached at Imperial and thought her team played well in their opener.

“This was a good start to the season, and it was good for me to see what we’ve been working on come into play,” Strahm said.

Holtville went 7-18 in 2017 under Strahm, improving last season to 11-16 while finishing 3-9 in Imperial Valley League play both seasons.

“I feel like I’ve gotten to know the girls’ strengths and weaknesses, and it’s been great to have them in the off-season and summers,” Strahm said. “I’m beginning to feel like the program has more of my stamp on it now.”

Holtville junior Emily Zarate said she believes all the hard work the team has been putting in was displayed in the match — well, for most of the match, anyway.

“We practice hard every day, and we showed it tonight,” Zarate said. “We had a little hiccup in the second game when I think we got a little confident and the crowd got into our heads, but the last two games we were focused.”

Both teams return to action next week with Calipatria (0-1) hosting Coachella Valley on Tuesday and Holtville (1-0) traveling to El Cajon to take on Foothill Christian on Wednesday.