The Mesa women’s volleyball team has been steadily preparing for their upcoming season. After repeatedly being PCAC champion title holders, they are definitely not looking to fall short this season. “I expect our team to go out there and play hard, play to win and I expect to carry on the tradition we set for Mesa all these years,” says head coach, Kim Lester.
Coach Lester has been coaching the women’s volleyball team has been in this program for nearly 12years. She has had a very successful run. In the past 10 years, the Lady Olympians have been PCAC title holders a total of 5 times. They also have had 4 undefeated seasons. The ladies also seem to have adapted the drive and determination that Coach Lester contains.
The main goal is to get further that where they had gotten last season. ”I feel like we should have went further than we have, but it was good season overall,” says sophomore captain, Heather Steele, “we won conference so that’s good, but I wanted to go to state.”
Last season they held that outstanding record of 23-4. Which led them to play-offs of which they unfortunately didn’t finish off the way that they had planned. ”The first round playoff loss was very disappointing,” says Lester,“ I think we were on a roll, we were playing the best volleyball towards the end of the season and then we had 10 days off and that hurt us and it showed when we out there to play.” They finished off their last season ranked top 10 in the state and as PCAC champions, which they tied with Grossmont College. “I expect to win conference and not tie with Grossmont,”stated Steele, claiming her teams rightful position.
Mesa does not seem to let their achievement of previous seasons get to their heads at all. As a sports team, it isn’t only important to have chemistry on the court or field, but also as a family. The Olympians have a sisterhood that is apparent at times where they might not even realize it. Their talks before practice consists of business and unexpected random outbursts of laughter and fun interactions. The way that they interact obviously shows on the court in a positive way.
“I absolutely love this group. I think we are athletic, we have a lot of players that can do a lot of different things that add to our team,” says Lester as she boasts about her players this season.”
The success of this team is relevant to the freshen players that automatically want to be a part of the teams endeavors. Freshman captain, Kareena Madon says, “my main goal personally would probably be contributing as much as I can to the team and help improve as much as we can throughout the season.”
The Mesa College lady Olympians are utilizing their room for growth and are planning on continuing their tradition and hopefully they will be a part of the state championship and conquer whatever teamthat comes their way. Madon says that she hope that they “grow as a team and finish as high as we possibly can.”
The San Diego Mesa Invitational tournament will be held at Mesa College from Friday, September 19th to Saturday, September 20th.
