Long Road Ahead for Volleyball

There was a lot of uncertainly heading into last year's inaugural Super Essex Conference volleyball season for the Cougars. They were returning nine senior girls, but had not faced many of the opponents. Columbia went 7-13, and return this season with just one senior, and only two players with varsity experience.

This could be shaping up to be a tough season for the girls. The one thing that may be in their court is that the rest of the Liberty Division is probably expecting it and thus overlooking the Cougar girls.

"I think they'll think we'll have a downfall, considering how we played last year. We just gave points away," Columbia head coach Charles Taylor said. "We're going to win games on our technique and our hustle."

Senior Danielle England (center/outside) and junior Kaitlin Kling (outside) return this season for the Cougars as the only players with varsity experience. Every other player was on junior varsity last season, and coach Taylor says there is a big gap between varsity and jv.

Lacking size up front, the Cougars will have to rely on its backline to keep balls in play, and wait for the other team to make a mistake. Taylor said that the service game is coming along and that while there is some potential up front, there isn't that one player to command the net.

"Right now we don't have that person," Taylor said. "We have three front people who can do the job, but we don't have that dominant person."

The Liberty Division should be a good but fair test for the Cougars. It's the middle league in the SEC, and while West Essex comes in as a favorite to repeat, the division is wide-open.

The girls will likely spend the beginning quarter to a third of the season adjusting to the speed of the varsity game and nailing down key fundamentals. They open the season with eight consecutive division games, so their fate in the division may be set before October. However, if the girls are able to go .500 or even come out of the stretch with a winning mark, it could set up a very exciting fall for the Cougar volleyball team. Nine of their final 11 games are divisional contests.

Taylor said that the team's number one goal is to qualify for the state playoffs this season, win a game or two in the county tournament and to eclipse the seven win total from a year ago. Columbia's season begins on Friday at West Orange.