There are big shoes to fill all over the court for the Capilano Blues women's volleyball team but head coach Cal Wohlford is confident he's got the players to step in and step up.
The Blues won silver at the PacWest provincial championships last season and went on to finish fifth at nationals. The team was led by a strong group of veteran players who pasted their names all over the PacWest statistical leaderboard. Almost all of them, however, have moved on.
On top of that list was defensive wizard Jacqueline Caverly, a first-team PacWest all-star who lead the league in digs by a wide margin. Replacing her will be a task for the whole team, said Wohlford, adding that fourth year player Mika Chow will step in as the new libero.
"She's a very good defensive player," Wohlford said of Chow. "Some of the things that you have with a solid player like Jacquie you don't replace and you don't try to get anybody to imitate it. What you try to do is find somebody that has the same kind of passion that she had.. .. Jacquie is not here. What we need to do is contribute a little part of that. Whatever Jacquie did, each person needs to adapt a little of that so we still have a little something there."
Also gone are Sydney Thorton and Sara Pettersson, the team's top two hitters last year, and middle Alicia Catalano who finished second in the league in blocks last year.
This isn't, however, an entirely new squad. The Blues brought in five rookies but they also have a strong cast of returning players. One player who will be instrumental in getting the new-look Blues up to speed is setter Sarah Hughes, a third-year player from Burnaby. Hughes was recruited as a power hitter but switched to setter at the start of last season. She picked up her new position so well that when the team went to nationals she caught the eye of national team scouts and was invited to a Volleyball Canada ID camp over the summer.
Wohlford said that national team assistant coach Scott Koskie, himself a former national team setter, was floored when he heard that Hughes had only been playing the position for six months. Her brush with the national program has helped boost her confidence even higher, said Wohlford.
"She learned quite a bit there and came back with definitely a new outlook on her position," he said. "She's starting to look like she's been setting for five or six years, compared to just two years."
Hughes brings a unique perspective to the setter position having recently played at power hitter.
"She understands what the hitters are going through and she still gets opportunity swings, which I think throws a lot of people off," said Wohlford.
It remains to be seen who will end up on the other end of the majority of Hughes' sets. There are several candidates, including third year power hitter Kelsi Boroevich who started last season as a bench player but broke through during the season and ended up winning a tournament allstar award at the provincial championships. Right side Kira Sutcliffe, a third-year player with two years of experience at Thompson Rivers University, should also be in line for a lot of kills along with fellow third years Hilary McLoughlin and Alexis Sebok. Kolbi Richter, a third-year returning starter from Vernon, will be counted on as a lead blocker in the middle.
Wohlford is also excited about the rookies on the team but realizes that there will likely be an adjustment period for the players jumping from high school to the college game.
"It'll take them a little while to catch up to the style and the speed and the commitment that you have to have," he said. "They're pretty good rookies and we're pretty excited to have them on the team."
With holes to fill in the middle, rookie Danae Shephard from Kelowna is expected to begin the season as a starter with other first-year players also ready to push for playing time.
The Blues come into the season ranked No. 5 in the country, although that is likely a simple nod to the finishing order at last year's national championships. "I don't even know how they do it," Wohlford said of the national rankings. "Over the last two years I kind of realized that's not something I need to worry about. I just worry about our league, setting our goals and trying to accomplish them."
So what are those goals? "We want to repeat and go back to nationals," he said, adding that the
PacWest conference will be awarded two berths in the national championships again this season. "We'd like to do better than a silver at provincials, that's our goal, but we know we've had lots of turnover so we're working hard at getting everybody in the same rhythm."
Wohlford said he understands that it may take time for his revamped lineup to find that rhythm but he's not going to let that lower his expectations.
"I'm fine with that," he said. "I kind of like peaking near the end. That's been our trait the last couple of years and I'd like to keep that going, but at the same time we know the games we need to win and we'd like to win those ones. It starts off with Douglas this weekend."
The Blues open their season at home on Friday against the Douglas College Royals. The women will get things started at 6 p.m. with the men to follow at approximately 8 p.m.
