MURRIETA – Another girls volleyball season opened up last weekend with tournament action as stars graduated and a pair of notable coaching changes occurred. Let’s take a look at the upcoming season as the 2023-34 school year gets underway.
CIF-SS Preseason Coaches Watchlist:
Defending CIF-SS division two champion Vista Murrieta along with fellow Southwestern League member Chaparral find themselves on the combined Divisions One and Two watchlist. Teams on this combined list, which consists of Southern Section volleyball powers, will not find out their playoff divisional placement until mid-October.
Also making the Division Five watchlist are Rancho Christian (a quarterfinalist in Division Six last season) and Temescal Canyon.
In Division Six, Linfield Christian makes the preseason watchlist for the first time in Dana Ortiz’ tenure. The Lions have reached four straight CIF-SS postseasons after missing nine in a row and after winning back-to-back titles under former coach Eric Hawes in ‘18 and ‘19.
After last year’s run to the CIF-SS division eight semifinals Orange Vista earned a spot on the Division Seven watchlist.
Perennial small school powers California Lutheran and Temecula Prep also earned spots in Division Eight.
Pumas off to hot start in ‘23-’24:
It was an offseason of change at Chaparral as Gale Johnson resigned and Gretchen Johnson was named interim coach. However, despite that and the graduations of Bella Rittenberg and Makai Ford, they have not missed a beat.
At the preseason Queens Court tournament held Saturday, Aug. 5, and Sunday, Aug. 6, in Orange County, they made it to the tournament’s championship match before falling against Corona Del Mar. In pool play they defeated Mayfield (Pasadena), Fountain Valley (Huntington Beach), and Shadow Hills (Indio) along with Crescenta Valley in an out of pool match on Saturday. In bracket play on Sunday, they defeated Canyon (Anaheim), Sunny Hills (Fullerton), and Redlands (last year’s tournament winners) before falling to the Sea Queens.
Then in an opening day tournament in Fontana which was hosted by AB Miller on Saturday, Aug. 12, they brought home the title, defeating Big VIII League member Corona in semifinal action.
Ivy League Preview:
Riverside Poly and Paloma Valley shared the league title last year at 7-1 as five set matches were prevalent throughout the league. Rancho Christian, after rolling to a Sunbelt League title and CIF-SS division six quarterfinal appearance in their first Raincross Conference season moves to the top league, while Heritage moves down to the Sunbelt.
Poly lost star player Kayden Croy to graduation while Paloma Valley lost setter Ashley Stoyer along with Alexa Rosales. Both sides should still be in the race for the title as they also return a lot. Poly will feature middle blocker Aurora Elder while the Wildcats return Mia Rosas along with Kamryn Anderson (sister of former Wildcat Madison Anderson who played on Paloma Valley’s CIF-SS runner up team in 2018). Anderson was a midseason callup who hit just shy of .200 in limited varsity action last year.
Rancho Christian graduated Ellie Nichols and Mariah Hughes as they make the move forward to Ivy League competition.
Hemet is on their third coach in the last four seasons as Daniel Sisson was not retained and Allison Rozell has taken over the program. Kaycee Blanton will be the Bulldogs top returning offensive weapon.
Meanwhile, at Elsinore, the Tigers made the playoffs but fell to Desert Christian Academy of Bermuda Dunes in an opening round division four matchup. Havannah Vogel has graduated and moved onto Cal State LA but expect the Tigers to make themselves known in the race somehow.
Southwestern League Preview:
Vista Murrieta rolled to an undefeated league title and the CIF-SS division two title behind Claire Little who has since graduated and moved onto BYU. Madison Pulsipher returns for the Broncos and is expected to lead coach Ed Taitano’s offensive attack.
As mentioned above, Chaparral is off to a nice start under interim coach Gretchen Johnson. Is it one they can sustain heading into league play? Murrieta Valley earned runner up honors at 6-4 a year ago but fell to Trinity League member JSerra in an opening round playoff match. As the Southwestern League’s fourth place team Temecula Valley made an unexpected run to the division two quarterfinals but lost Aubrey Beaver to graduation. At Murrieta Mesa Patrick Villanueva looks to make some progress after a winless league campaign a year ago.
With seventeen total wins a year ago Great Oak was able to at-large petition their way into the playoffs before falling to Foothill in coach Hannah Schaffer’s first season. Michaela Augustine and Sarah Wilson both graduate as the Pack look to continue positive momentum after Mark Motluck’s departure for Chaparral.
Derryl Trujillo can be reached at socaltrekkie@gmail.com.
