2010volleyballpreview
EBAL volleyball is all about survive and advance By Chace Bryson | Editor Lou Panzella has been a coaching mainstay in the East Bay girls volleyball scene for several years. He’s seen his share of super-competitive leagues, and even won titles in a few of them now and then. But when it comes to the current competition level of the East Bay Athletic League, the Deer Valley High coach simply marvels. “What’s scary about the EBAL right now is that you can put every teams name in a hat, pull out one at a time, and it might be a pretty good way of predicting the outcome,” Panzella said. “Nobody should go undefeated in that league. They are too evenly matched.” Each of the past four years, Panzella’s Deer Valley teams have had their seasons end at the hands of an EBAL team. In fact, his 2006 Wolverines squad is the last non-EBAL team to reach the North Coast Section Division I championship — where it lost to the EBAL’s Amador Valley. Since that 2006 championship game, the NCS Division I final has pitted two EBAL against each other. And each year, a different school has won. San Ramon Valley took the section crown in 2007, Foothill in 2008 and Amador Valley enters this year as the reigning champ. “Our league is just brutal,” Foothill coach Dusty Collins said. “It’s fun in that way, but it’s hard.” From one EBAL coach to another, each one will admit to the fact that nearly any team could win the league. And beyond that, that team may or may not win the NCS title because another EBAL team might knock it out. Carondelet coach Jerry Mix may have put it best. “I truly feel there are probably 4-5 schools who are generally going into the season feeling like they have a fighting chance at winning it all when it comes down to it,” Mix said. “And they all could be right.” So who are some of these teams? Well you can start at the top with defending champion Amador Valley. The Dons graduated six seniors from last year’s squad, but still return Duke-bound setter Kelsey Williams. Foothill, who finished as the NCS runners-up to Amador Valley, just happen to return outside hitter Caitlin DeWitt — who more than one coach believed was the league’s best player. Granada returns three-year starting hitter Kelly Shaver, San Ramon Valley has a three-year standout in Victoria Acosta, Carondelet boasts a well-balanced attack, and the list could keep on going. Getting through the league schedule is certainly going to be a grind for any team which wins it all. “We certainly try to stress that it’s a long season, even though it isn’t that long by looking at a calendar,” San Ramon Valley coach Mark Bauhs said. “Some of the other leagues where you only have two or three big games to get up for, you can breathe through the other matches, but you can’t do that in EBAL. It’s an endurance contest in the EBAL instead of a sprint to the finals.” Collins managed to boil it down even more. “As the season goes on, you have to get better,” he said. “Or you get left behind.” ✪
Bob Larson
There is no shortage of returning talent in the EBAL this season. Foothill senior Caitlin DeWitt (left) is considered by many to be the best offensive player in the league this season. Meanwhile, Carondelet’s offensive attack will likely run through junior outside hitter Shannon Boling.
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September 9, 2010
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