Ben Murphy
Sports Scene
A tough schedule has helped the Valley Lutheran volleyball team clinch at least a share of the Tri-Valley West title. At press time, the Chargers were 31-15-3 overall and 6-0 in league play.
VL has already claimed at least a share of the league title, thanks in large part to a 3-2 win over St. Louis October 12. A win over St. Charles on October 26 will clinch the Chargers’ first conference title since 2008.
“I totally expect us to take it,” sixth-year head coach Jon Frank said. “We’ve played them twice this year, beating them both times, but they’re an athletic team, so we’re not taking anyone for granted.”
The win over St. Louis was especially large, considering that the Sharks have won the league the last two seasons. The Chargers dropped the first set 13-25 before rallying to win 25-18, 22-25, 25-23, and 15-8.
“They came to our place, they were all fired up and drilled us the first game,” Frank said. “We settled down a bit and played our game. Just to see my girls battle back after that horrible beginning against a very well-coached team, it was a nice win for us.”
The Chargers, who have just two seniors and eight juniors on the team, are led by back row players Jessica Askew (libero) and Allison Fischer, fourth-year senior setter Sarah Appold, and third-year varsity junior Samantha Shafer.
“They’ve been just tough as nails in the back row for me,” Frank said of Askew and Fischer. “Sarah has just been awesome to coach, she’s a phenomenal three-sport athlete. Samantha is our big gun, our middle hitter and also plays left back on defense.”
Frank feels that his team’s tough non-conference schedule, especially their regular appearances in top-level Saturday tournaments, that has helped them to reach an elite level.
“Over the last couple of years, and especially this year, I try to find the toughest tournaments to be in,” Frank said. “We’ve played a ton of big programs this year. North Branch (ranked no. 1 in class B) three times, Morley Stanwood (ranked no. 3 in class B), and the list goes on and on. We’ve got 15 losses, which is quite a bit, but probably 10 of those losses are to ranked A and B schools. This is the hardest schedule I’ve ever set up for this team. We haven’t won any tournaments, but we’ve taken a lot of really good teams to the max.”
One tournament that Frank hopes his squad will win is districts, which begin October 31 in New Lothrop. The last time the Chargers won districts was in 2009.
“The effort is going to be there, I know that because they have convinced myself and each other that they want to succeed and want to go as far as they can,” Frank said. “It is an emotional game, a lot of times there are a lot of big swings. If they play smart and don’t let the valley last too long, and they show mental toughness, there is no telling how far they can go. I would say that we are favored to win our district but hate to make any kind of prediction, because volleyball is kind of a fickle sport.”
Regardless of how far his team makes it in the post season, Frank knows he’s going to get all he can out of his squad.
“This group, I can push them,” Frank said. “It’s a long season, and I ask a lot of these girls, but they are extremely hard-working and take instruction well. They’re team players, they do what I ask of them… I don’t have to ride this team about working hard, they just do it. That’s awesome for any coach.”