By Pete Borello
 Joe Hu/Town Crier Erin Saliba, above, and twin sister Emily are expected to be key players for Los Altos High. |
Leave it to the ever-optimistic Dave Winn, coach of the Los Altos High girls volleyball team, to find a positive in losing his two best players to graduation.
“It’s created a new team dynamic,” the Eagles’ fourth-year coach said. “The practices are more intense, the scrimmages are more even and they’re all competing for a starting job, which is a motivator.”
With middle blocker Lauren Schaefer and setter Michelle Nelson now playing for the University of Colorado at Boulder and University of California at Davis, respectively, Los Altos might have more vacancies in its lineup than at any other time during Winn’s tenure.
The only player already locked into a starting spot this season is Christan Schaefer (Lauren’s sister), whom the coach called “one of our primary outside hitters.”
The 5-foot-11 Schaefer started as a sophomore last year, earning all-league honors, and has only gotten better since then.
“Her arm swing is much stronger and she’s better at serve-receive, which is important for us,” Winn said.
All-league twins Emily and Erin Saliba, 5-foot-6 juniors, are expected to start as well, though their positions have yet to be defined. Emily can play “anywhere but middle blocker,” Winn said, and is “a smart hitter with great shot selection.” Erin is competing with senior Caroline Acosta to be the team’s setter. Winn is tinkering with a two-setter attack or may move one of the candidates to another position.
“We have good, quality setters on this team,” the coach said.
Winn is also trying to find a starting spot for Aimee Harris, a transfer from St. Francis High.
“She’s really good,” Winn said of the 5-6 sophomore. “She has good experience and she’s really versatile - she can play right side, outside and libero (a back-row position new to the high school game).”
Three players are in the mix at middle blocker. Winn has pegged Emily Achenbach to take over Lauren Schaefer’s role, though he said the senior is “a different kind of player.” Not only does Achenbach lack Schaefer’s size (5-10 compared with 6-3), she also comes up short in experience after taking the last two years off to concentrate on swimming. However, Winn likes what he’s seen from Achenbach thus far.
“She went to the summer volleyball camp and is shaking off the rust,” the coach said. “She works hard, she’s athletic and quick.”
Elysia Myers and Lauren Alvarado-Curry, both seniors, are battling for playing time at middle blocker as well. The 5-10 Myers worked alongside Schaefer last year and can also play opposite the hitter. Alvarado-Curry is the Eagles’ tallest middle at 5-11.
Seniors Kristin Chou and Madeline Geisheker are contending with Emily Saliba to start alongside Christan Schaefer at outside hitter. Winn said Emily “has a little quicker arm swing than the other two.”
The coach said he also has several utility players on his roster of 12, including Alyssa Biondi. The sophomore can play defensive specialist and libero.
“She has a lot of good experience from playing with City Beach 15 (club team),” Winn said. “She’s blending in really well.”
Having so many capable players is proving to be a challenge for the coach, who has yet to settle on an offense or rotation.
“It’s going to be hard to write out the lineups, but it’s fun for the girls,” he said. “I’m going to earn my keep this year.”
If the seniors have the kind of breakout season Winn is hoping for, Los Altos could again challenge for the SCVAL De Anza Division title. The Eagles finished second to Los Gatos last season and their 29 overall wins was the second-best total in school history.
This year’s team doesn’t have the size or star power of last year’s unit, but Winn said Los Altos can make up for some of that with good, old-fashioned defense.
“We’re not going to out-hit teams,” he said. “We’ll have to play better defense than other teams and keep the ball in play. We need to frustrate teams with defense and serve them off the court.”
Winn considers Los Gatos the team to beat in the division, with Mountain View, Gunn and Saratoga as strong contenders as well. And he isn’t about to overlook Palo Alto or Milpitas, either.
“I’m not penciling in a win against anyone this year,” the coach said. “We’ll have our work cut out for us. Usually, with our size, we fight for first or second in league, but it will be a real dogfight to get one of those three automatic bids.”
The top three teams in the De Anza Division are guaranteed Central Coast Section bids, with the others left to fight it out for the few at-large berths determined by power points (wins, quality of wins and strength of schedule). Los Altos landed the top seed in CCS Division III last year and made it to the semifinals. The Eagles have moved to Division II this year (divisions are based on school size), which means facing the likes of perennial powers Los Gatos and Mitty.
“We’re not thrilled with that,” Winn said.
But he is thrilled with the team’s mindset.
“These girls love to have fun,” he said. “There’s no drama between the girls, that I see. I feel that if they can work together, they can be better than they are. They have great attitudes and they work hard.”
With Winn, the positives always win out.
“You’ve got to have optimism,” he said. “If you stop, you might as well stop coaching.”
The Eagles were scheduled to open their season last weekend at the Milpitas Spikefest. Their home opener is set for 6:45 p.m. Friday against Westmont.
MVHS wins opener
Mountain View won its opener 25-18, 21-25, 25-14, 25-17 Thursday at Monta Vista
The Spartans started slowly, according to coach Gerrie Phillips, and lost Lauren Burks to an ankle injury in the first game.
“Biz Lynch came off the bench and did a nice job on defense,” Phillips said of Lynch’s replacement, who totaled eight kills and two aces.
Chelsea Ligda led Mountain View with 20 kills and Summer Reeves had 10. Abby Damm had 42 assists, 14 digs and four aces.
