Volleyball team gets new head coach

By Aaron Turner
STAFF WRITER

First-year Rams volleyball head coach Saga Vae is fully aware of his team’s success last season, a year that saw the Rams reach postseason play.

Vae is not worrying about repeating that success, nor is he weighed down by any heightened expectations that may now be resting on the volleyball program.

“I’m going into this season just worrying about now,” Vae said. “This is a pretty young team with a lot of new faces. Very different than last year’s team.”

Vae added there was no recruiting in the offseason. Complications due to the previous coaches walking out created a bind for the athletic department until new coaches could be found. This year’s team consists solely of walk-on’s and returning players from last season.

Sophomore Meghan McGuire admitted this made for a stressful period for the other returning players.

“For a while, we didn’t even know who our coach was even going to be,” McGuire said. “We were working with different coaches during summer training.  It was a relief when we were able to settle down with Coach and get the team organized.”

McGuire also felt that coach Vae’s work ethic seemed to be rubbing off on the young team.

“We are working on drills and techniques that maybe weren’t worked on during last year. I feel that coach is addressing more of our needs, and the team really seems to be responding to that,” McGuire said.

Vae knows his team will have to play a more technical game instead of being able to rely only on power hitting and net prowess. He also admitted this year’s team has more depth than last year’s due to the top to bottom playing ability on the roster.

The Rams will get a chance to find out whether that can happen when they travel to Diablo Valley College on Wednesday, August 26 for their season opener.