2014 run provides fuel for fall’s fire
College Park has big plans after successful campaign a year ago
College Park is coming off a big year.
The Cavaliers won 27 matches, finished third in a tough District 16-6A race, and then knocked off Klein Oak in the playoffs.
Their season ended with a five-set loss to Austin Westlake.
“We did really, really well last year,” said coach Candice Collins, who is preparing for her 11th season. “I was very pleased with the girls, and we made a good run in the playoffs, too. We beat Klein Oak, and Westlake had a great team and we went to the fifth game with them. It was a great season for us.”
Now they’re entering the great unknown.
The Cavaliers graduated seven players last month, including outside hitter Emily Thorson, who signed with Tulsa, and setter/right-side hitter Julianna Waller, who signed with Western State Colorado.
Thorson was a key starter for four years.
“I am definitely going to miss Emily,” Collins said.
“It’s always hard when you build such a bond with a player, especially the ones who have been there for so long. It’s going to be hard to have Emily gone, but at the same time she’s going to do great at Tulsa and we’re going to have a good team. We’re going to have a very young team, but it’s going to be pretty good.”
With only three returning players, it will be short on experience, too.
The returners are OH Kennedi Smith, who is verbally committed to New Hampshire, S Hannah Erwin, who pledge to Denver, and libero Savannah Rutledge.
Smith and Erwin are entering their fourth years on varsity and Rutledge her third.
“I look for them to be really strong leaders for us,” Collins said.
Smith is a six-rotation player and court stabilizer for the Cavaliers. She was second in kills behind Thorson last season.
“She is very quick and dynamic,” Collins said.
“She’s going to bring leadership, because she will have been on there for four years, and just the drive of being a senior is important.”
Erwin, who also plays right side and isn’t likely to leave the court very often, was third in kills last season.
“She’s very smart run-
ning the court,” Collins said. “She also has been a starter for four years, so this will be her fourth year to run our court, and she just does a great job. She’s very smart, she’s strategic, and she is great offensively as a hitter, too.”
Rutledge is the defensive leader with six-rotation ability.
“She is very intense and driven, and she’s very consistent and she has a never-say-die attitude, and a I love that in a libero,” Collins said.
The veteran coach expects to have a few seniors from junior varsity filling holes around the three returning players, but she also anticipates several incoming sophomores to challenge them for playing time.
The biggest position holes going into the start of fall practice Aug. 3 are in the middle and a second outside, but Collins says the key in camp will be developing the chemistry that is so important.
“With the team I have and the dynamics I see within the program, team chemistry is going to be very important this season,” she said.
Collins said she’s looking for players who not only have the talent to play varsity volleyball but who show they can handle the pressure, have the right charisma and fit in best with the other players.
The Cavs scrimmage Friday, Aug. 7, at home with Huntsville, Spring and The John Cooper School. They open the season Tuesday, Aug. 11, at Klein Collins.
“The first couple of weeks in the tournaments are going to be very important as far as shoring up our lineup and seeing where people are strongest and where they can contribute,” Collins said.