by Melissa A. Collett
Staff Writer
Women’s volleyball team finished off a rocky season with a 15-7, 15-9, 15-5 win over the Whittier Poets last Thursday.
The game was an easy win for the Leos, who were one win away from finishing in third place in SCIAC.
The Leos ended with an 8-19 overall record, and were 5-7 in conference this season.
“I think we played one of the most challenging schedules of a Division III team this year,” said Jim Paschal, women’s volleyball head coach.
The team played some of the top teams in the nation, including Washington University and UC San Diego.
Paschal said the team was “inconsistent during the year because of young players and changing setters.
“We lost our setter because of medical reasons. We had to get a new setter three weeks into the season,” he said.
Junior Kim Caravalho took over the position of setter, which brought freshman Michelle Runyan in as middle blocker. Runyan received the Most Improved Player award at Tuesday night’s fall sports awards banquet.
“Michelle really matured during the season and I really enjoyed working with her,” said Caravalho, who received the Digger Award for having the most digs (323) during the season.
“Every team can always improve in execution of the fundamentals of the game. I think we did that during the season. We can do it before next fall,” said Paschal. “You always want to be a better team.”
“We went into this season not thinking of last year, but thinking ahead to this year,” said sophomore Priscilla Alfaro. “Our attitude, skill and talent were better this year.”
“We improved the most in defense and in blocking. I think one of the things we should improve on is some of the natural skills like jumping and arm swings.
“If you recap the season I think we had a good year; (the season) could’ve been better. We had exceptional team harmony,” said Paschal.
Junior Margaret Pulver received the Killer Award for having the most kills (294) in the season. She was also named to first team, All-SCIAC.
“Overall our team doubled our wins. We were stronger this year,” said Paschal.
“We’re going to be a really strong team next year,” said Runyan.
