Young Lady Cardinals Get Tough

WAITSBURG - Doing what it takes to advance to post-season play will literal­ly be a whole new ballgame for the 2013 WP Cardinals volleyball team. The gradua­tion loss of Rhiannon Chap­man, Jen Nichols, Adriana Benito and 2012 MVP Krys­tal Harris, as well as the loss of several junior players, has resulted in a very young team, largely dominated by freshmen and sophomores.

Third-year WP volleyball coach Angie Potts, is up for the challenge. Potts, who has coached a total of 22 years between Prescott, Wa Hi and WP, is working with volunteer Robbie Johnson to train this year's team. Though an Assistant Coach­ing position was advertised repeatedly, no applications were received. Johnson, who has been described by team members as "very encourag­ing," has stepped forward to help on a volunteer basis and will be working mainly as the JV coach.

A new roster means a new game plan. Moves, school transfers, part-time jobs and Running Start have played roles in the loss of would- be junior players Stacia Deal, Kassidy Kuykendall, Analise Salazar and Jadah Smith. As it stands, the 2013 roster consists of one senior, three juniors, five sopho­mores and two freshmen.

"We have some very ex­perienced girls who make up a strong core group," said Potts. "Then we have a large group of relatively inexperi­enced girls. There's not a lot of middle ground."

Potts has the team work­ing hard at mastering fun­damentals and says the girls have a great attitude, which is especially important in such a young team. "I see some strong leadership skills showing through with the more experienced girls," said Potts. "The players have a real desire to win and are willing to push themselves. We also have some great hit­ters. We just need to work on passing consistently."

While Potts is waiting to see how things fall into place before making final place­ments, she offered some insight as to what 2013 play may look like.

"Our senior, Enidena Fuentes, is scrappy and a good passer. She will play outside hitter. Samantha Fedderson and Paige Wood, both good passers and de­fensive players, will play the middle. Jaidyn Brown is the most consistent setter and has really worked hard on her defense this year. Kaitlyn Jones and Caitlyn Mohney will both see a lot of play as well. Caitlyn Mohney will probably be an outside set­ter and Caitlyn Jones might fill the spot as libero. She's scrappy, hustles and doesn't want to see the ball drop."

The Lady Cards face their first opponents, the Pilot Rock Rockets, Friday, Sept. 6 in Pilot Rock. With the first game scheduled so early in the season, WP was forced to practice right through the Labor Day holiday - both Saturday morning and Mon­day night -- in order to make the required ten practice pre- game minimum.

"It's hard to fit the prac­tices in, especially with so much going on," said Potts. Mikala DeRuwe is the team's third junior, but her involvement in the fair prevented her from making practices which means she'll be benched the first game.

Potts is looking forward to seeing the team in action at Friday's game. "I want to see them in their rotations and not messing up. I also want to see good serves and returns - all-around good defense. We can work on of­fense later."

WP Volleyball Roster:

Enedina Fuentes, Senior

Paige Wood, Junior

Samantha Fedderson ,Junior

Mikala DeRuwe, Junior

Jaidyn Brown, Sopho­more Caitlin Mohney, Sopho­more Caitlyn Jones, Sopho­more Athziry Amezuca, Soph­omore Josie Tyler, Sophomore

Timber Frohreich, Soph­omore Jade Alleman, Freshman

Team captains are: En­edina Fuentes, Samantha Fedderson and Paige Wood.