PC working around shortcomings
Pirates host Cerro Coso Wednesdy at 5 p.m.
When fans turn out for the first home game of the Porterville College volleyball season Wednesday evening they’ll notice one major thing about this year’s team — the Pirates are short.
For some sports height isn’t that big of an issue, but when it comes to volleyball height is a significant advantage most teams use in their front row to block, get strong hits for kills or easy touches for tips. And for PC, the lack of height on the team is something second-year head coach Pete Rasmussen is well aware of.
“They’re good players, they’re just not tall,” Rasmussen said at a practice last Thursday. “As you saw, we’re not a very big team. They’re a great team. They’re defensively probably one of the best teams I’ve ever had. They just don’t have height.”
The Pirates tallest player is 5-foot-9 freshman Juliet Garcia — a middle blocker and outside hitter from Mendota.
While confident in his team’s ability to play defense well, Rasmussen said that getting the ball to Garcia and good digs will be some of the keys the team need to be successful in Central Valley Conference play.
“We have to dig well obviously,” Rasmussen said. “We have to get Jules — she’s a freshman, basketball player — the ball. Just a [really good] athlete, just phenomenal athlete. And she’s never played club volleyball so she’s really raw. If we can get her a lot of sets and get her positioned where she can take some swings, that would put us in a better position. Even with her lack of experience in club, she’s still hitting around people. When we played Hartnell, she was still hitting around a middle blocker that had been playing for 10 years at a high level and Jules has probably played high school ball for three years.”
Porterville lost 3-0 to Hartnell (10-2), but Garcia led the team with four kills and 14 total attempts. After last Friday’s loss to Fresno City (7-3, 2-0 CVC), PC (3-4) is now 1-1 in the CVC after sweeping West Hills-lemoore (1-2, 0-2 CVC) last Wednesday. The Pirates host Cerro Coso (62, 2-0 CVC) this Wednesday at 5 p.m.
To make up for their lack of height, Rasmussen said the team will switch from a rotational defense to a perimeter one that allows for more digs of hard-hit balls. And along with Garcia, the Pirates will also depend on 5-foot-8 sophomore returners Madysen Clower and Emily Baeza — outside hitters out of Porterville High School. Clower is also the team’s middle blocker and one of the team’s better hitters, according to Rasmussen. On Baeza, Rasmussen said,