‘It’s a growing year’

SOAP LAKE - The Soap Lake volleyball team is looking to make strides with a fresh set of faces as it moves into the season.

“It’s a growing year,” said Head Coach Nicole Noble.

Noble explained that she has only three returning players from the 2021 season - two juniors and a freshman. The rest of her 13-girl team is made up of six freshmen, two juniors and two seniors.

Despite half her team being freshmen, she is very optimistic about their athletic abilities.

“We have a good, strong, athletic freshman class,” said Noble.

Noble said that their biggest challenge has been the lack of experience or the length of time since experienced players last played. While many are returning, some did not play in 2020, 2021, or even both years in some cases.

She also said COVID-19 restrictions seemed to hinder their turnout the last couple of years, coupled with younger, less experienced players hindered their ability to bring home wins.

“Last year they were still doing the COVID rules as far as masks and testing and that sort of thing,” Noble said. “So that led people to not want to play so we had a very small team. We only had a varsity and we ended the season with about seven players.”

She noted that despite the difficulties of only having seven players the year before, it allowed the younger girls to play at the varsity level. She admitted that they weren’t really ready for it but it helped them gain mental toughness and an insight into what it takes to play at that level.

With 13 girls this year, Noble said they will have a varsity and junior varsity team.

“Last year we struggled a lot with our defense and serve receive and I think we’re definitely starting to improve that,” said Noble.

While they will be working off of a lot of what they learned and used last year, Noble said she will be shifting around some positions and working on rotations as well.

“They’re very athletic and they’ve improved just since I’ve seen them start last playing year and this year so I’m really excited about the future of this team because we have a lot growth to do but some of these players are already varsity level players so they will have that experience over the next two to four years,” said Noble.

Noble said juniors Laura Villa-Alva and Olivia McCrady are a couple of the players to keep an eye on and she feels will bring great leadership to the team.

“I definitely expect to win some games this year which we haven’t done in the last two seasons,” said Noble.

She said she thinks they will surprise a lot of people.

“I think they’re going to see the improvement and they’re going to see how hard these girls have worked,” said Noble.

Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.

2022 Eagles Volleyball Roster:

Senior Luda Burich, No. 5 - Varsity-Middle

Freshman Mylee Dana, No. 14 - Varsity-Setter, Right side

Freshman Sage Hart, No. 7 - Varsity-Setter, Right side

Junior Cierra Koski, No. 10 - Varsity-Outside

Junior Olivia McCrady, No. 2 - Varsity-Middle

Senior Emily Stevens, No. 6 - Varsity- Outside

Freshman Liana Sushik, No. 8 - Varsity- Outside

Junior Laura Villa-Alva, No. 11 - Varsity-Libero, Back row

Junior Ruby Crook, No. 1 - Varsity/JV- Libero, Back row

Freshman Brook Dana, No. 4 - JV- Middle

Freshman Kendra Webster, No. 15 - JV- Outside

Freshman Tanya Zubritskiy, No. 3 - JV- Middle

Freshman Alyson Zufall, No. 13 - JV- Setter

Eagles Girls Volleyball Schedule:

Sept. 6, 7 p.m. @Moses Lake Christian

Sept. 8, 6:30 p.m. @ Pateros

Sept. 10, 8 a.m.Ephrata Varsity Tourney

Sept. 12, 6 p.m. vs Wilson Creek

Sept. 13, 6 p.m. @ Riverside Christian

Sept. 15, 6 p.m. vs Easton

Sept. 17, 6 p.m. @ Thorp

Sept. 21 vs Cascade Christian

Sept. 27, 6 p.m. @ Wilson Creek

Sept. 29, 6:15 p.m. vs Pateros

Oct. 1, 12:30 p.m. @ Entiat

Oct. 4, 6:15 p.m. vs Moses Lake Christian

Oct. 6, 6 p.m. vs Riverside Christian

Oct. 11, 6 p.m. @ Easton

Oct. 13, 6 p.m. vs Thorp

Oct. 18, 6:15 p.m. vs Waterville-Mansfield

Oct. 20, TBA @ Cascade Christian

Oct. 22, 12:30 p.m. vs Entiat