End of the Season Awards and Review for Local Girls’ Volleyball

The girls in the Mountain Pass League put on quite an exhibition this year.  Unfortunately everyone’s season has come to an end in the CIF bracket tournament. Hemet High and Beaumont finished as Co-Champs of the Mountain Pass League, both posting an impressive 9-1 record in league play.

Each only lost to each other splitting their season matchups in half.                                                                                                  

Hemet, Beaumont, and West Valley all made it into their divisions playoff bracket this season. Hemet was victorious in their first two matches against West and Calvary Chapel but fell in the third round to Saddleback Christian who lost in their Semi-Final matchup. Beaumont lost in their first match against Brentwood and was eliminated from the tournament quite early. Many expected them to make a deeper run in the bracket this season. West Valley won their first match in the playoffs against Patriot, but they turned lost the very next match against Cate. 

Tahquitz, San Jacinto, and Citrus Hill all failed to make the playoffs this season. San Jacinto has a rather young team, only graduating 3 seniors at the end of the school year. They will be poised to challenge West Valley for the Mountain Pass League Championship next year. West Valley will be a little younger next year as they are graduating six seniors and only have three juniors listed on their current roster.

It is important to note that the current  co-league champions, Hemet and Beaumont are leaving the league at the end of the season. Hemet’s team is graduating 4 seniors: that’s a third of their 12-girl active roster. It’s unknown how many seniors are on Beaumont’s roster, but both teams will want to assert themselves as top dogs in their new league next season.

The Hemet-San Jacinto Chronicle would like to congratulate the three teams on their playoff success.  We are looking forward to seeing how they come back next year.

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The Lady Braves at Noli Indian School on the Soboba Reservation are taking the girls volleyball team to new heights this year as they continue a winning streak that began on Aug. 28. As the regular Warrior League season comes to an end with an away game on Oct. 16, the players are staying motivated.

Coaches Andrea Helms and Brian Savage work tirelessly to keep the girls at the top of their game with almost daily practices and twice weekly games.

Helms has been at Noli for eight years and coaching the girls volleyball team for four.

“We have a team of strong girls who have the want to play,” Helms said. “They have a good attitude and the competition has been pretty evenly matched this season.

She said her goal for each game is the same: looking forward to getting the win.

“Our returning players are working well together with our new players,” said Savage, who has worked at Noli for 15 years and has been helping coach the volleyball team for two years. “We have put a lot of focus on defense this season.”

He said the team has been working to improve its serving and its consistency, but they have been doing a great job. Many of the players are multi-sport athletes and Savage said that can be a double-edged sword.

“It’s an advantage because they stay athletic year-round but is can sometimes be a disadvantage if they overwork themselves and suffer from being tired,” he said.

Co-captain Shalea Luna has been playing for the team since her sophomore year but has been playing the sport since she was a young girl.

The senior said she tries to be as supportive as possible, especially to the freshmen players. She said when someone gets down, it brings the whole team down so she tries to build everyone up so they can continue to do good.

“I try to be a good leader and help out as much as I can,” said Luna, who is from Pala. “Serving is my strength and I’m working more on my spiking and setting but I love everything.”

Amy Soza played volleyball while in middle school at Noli, which she has attended since sixth grade. She also plays basketball and softball. As one of several freshmen on the team she said she thinks her ability to play back row well is her strongest contribution to the team.

“I’m a good setter, too,” said Soza, of Morongo. “I came out for the team because it’s fun!”

Sophomore Abbie Nevarez said she started with the team this year because her mother encouraged her to play a sport and now is considering playing basketball as well.

“I think my best skill is supporting the team – sometimes players forget what we learned in practice and I can remind them,” said Nevarez, of Soboba.

The rest of the roster includes Iyana Briones, Vanessa Fernandez, Lanise Luna, Ciara Ramos, Sica Rivera, co-captain Tanya Rivera, Lilly Zubia and Violet Zubia.

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Valley-Wide

It may not feel like it outside, but Fall is almost here. That means A whole new batch of sports to play at Valley-Wide, as summer is coming to an end so is basketball at Valley-Wide’s gyms which means it is time for Co-ed Volleyball to take over, registration ends September 25th which means there is a little over a month to turn those packets in. Valley-Wide offers multiple age divisions to for volleyball. Division 1 is for 3rd-5th grade, Division 2 is from 6th-8th grade, and Division 3 is for 9th-12th graders. After registration, each child will be informed of a skills day they will show up to let coaches see their skill level and abilities. Coaches will then perform a draft to select players on their team. This format is to ensure that talent is equally distributed throughout the league. However, you can still make special requests to be on a certain coaches’ team or paired up with another player. Valley-Wide isn’t always able to accommodate these requests but they do pride themselves on trying. If you are interested in signing your child up to play volleyball this season there isn’t much time left. 

Football season is here, which means Flag Football at Valley-Wide has arrived as well, right now they are accepting registration packets for the three divisions they have set up this season, but be fast the deadline is Sept.18 which is only a month away. Division 1 is for 3rd & 4th graders; unfortunately, that is the lowest they go this season. Division 2 is for 5th & 6th graders, and Division 3 is for 7th & 8th graders. I’m a firm believer that many of the skills needed to play tackle football can be learned playing flag, and it minimizes the contact and injury potential a kid may face when playing tackle football too early. 

There will be a skills day for all three divisions so athletes can show off their skills for all the coaches to see. This helps prevent coaches from stockpiling all of the good players on one team. Athletes should be prepared to put in work and impress the coaches at the skills day that way they can be a high draft pick. This is also an excellent place to play if your child didn’t make the middle school flag football team and still wants to play this season. 

All registration packets & coaching packets can be picked up at the regional office on Esplanade Ave (901 W Esplanade Ave, San Jacinto, CA 92582) if you would like more information, please call Valley-Wide (951) 654-1505. As always Valley-Wide offers a scholarship program for kids who may not be able to afford registration fees. If you fall under that category, go into the office to get more information.

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