The Point Loma High School Pointers girls volleyball team is looking for a few good sponsors to help bring in funds to support its blossoming volleyball program.
“We had a wonderful outing in the Beach City Tournament, taking third place in the Silver Division against teams from all over the Western United States, including Washington, Utah and Idaho,” said Bryan East, a key member of the Point Loma Boosters.
The Varsity squad’s third-place trophy ended a long drought for the program since it placed second in California Interscholastic Federation in 2000.
The Pointers entered the tournament ranked 38th and ended up 19th because of their impressive showing.
New head coach Mike Placek brings a new attitude to the volleyball team after a difficult 2006 season.
“I heard the job was available and I knew a couple of the players from Coast Club Volleyball, so I thought it would be a good opportunity,” Placek said.
Placek brings his AVP experience to Point Loma and also brought current assistant coach Nick Ellis with him from the AVP Tour.
The returning seniors for the Pointers are Kim Dolphin, Camille East, Sara Fredericks, Chelsea Oakes and Kirsten Skala.
Captains East and Skala are in agreement about the differences in the team since last season. The players believe the coaching staff is improved from last year, as is the overall team morale.
“We were broken up last year, mainly playing for ourselves instead of as a team, but this year with a new coach we are working harder and are more focused,” said Dolphin, a middle blocker.
The players also believe the PLHS varsity, junior varsity and freshmen teams have a lot of potential and that the talent level on the teams are much better than it has been in the past.
“We have a lot of ideas for the future to help generate more interest,” East said. “We’d like to sponsor our own city tournament like the one we just played in.”
The Beach City Tournament included five venues: Bishop’s, Canyon Crest, La Jolla, Rancho Bernardo and University City.
“If we can get local businesses to help sponsor the event, they can generate more advertising for the sponsors at a variety of venues over two days, which can include up to 40 schools,” East said.
“The school district allots only the bare minimum to each school for its volleyball teams. But there are a lot of expenses including uniforms, equipment, transportation costs. Our success depends on the help of the local businesses and community to help make us a successful program,” East said.
The junior varsity team under Mary Gerke is also off to a good start (3-2) this season. The key players are middle blocker Sierra Brown, Setter Chelsea Dyer, defensive specialist Meagan Hanna and outside hitter Haley Rea.
“I’m very happy with them so far. They have good chemistry, they work hard, they goof around but I’m very proud of them,” Gerke said.
The Pointers’ freshmen team is led by setter Nicole Tartre and middle blocker McKenna Doyle. Tartre has never played volleyball before while Doyle played at the club level at the Coast Club in the Sorrento Valley area.
“Sometimes we scrimmage against the junior varsity team. We don’t do too well against them, but it is good for us to practice against them. It makes us a better team,” Tartre said.
East and the other Boosters are hoping the added community support will bolster the rising girls volleyball program.
“Our program has been strong on at least two occasions over the past 15 years but both times it fell back due to lack of funding and support. Funding is the key to building a strong volleyball program and keeping it there,” East said.
East can be reached by calling (619) 991-6250, or by e-mailing [email protected].