Story by Alex Ellison
With one of their youngest, most athletic and physical teams in recent memory, the Grossmont Women's Indoor Volleyball team is looking to continue their run of Pacific Coast Athletic Conference dominance in recent years. The women have won the conference the past seven seasons and have been undefeated in conference the past three seasons.
Head coach Jamie Ivers is a major reason for the team's continued success - a feat she attributes to Grossmont's culture - and has been pleased again thus far this season.
"I think we should be peaking at the right time. Our season has gone well, we dropped some matches we should have won, but hopefully those won't hinder us in the postseason" Ivers said.
Some of those matches include a 3-1 loss to Canyons at El Camino College on Sept. 15, a 3-0 loss to Saddleback on Sept. 20 and most recently a 3-1 loss at San Diego City on Oct. 18. The loss to San Diego City ended a 48-match long PCAC winning streak. With such a strong season despite these matches, Ivers is confident in her team leaders moving forward.
"Lexi [Alexcis] Morris is one of our biggest team leaders, Nicole Donais and Briana Ayon as well. We have some very physical players and I think a lot of individuals lead in their own way. They may not lead vocally but they lead with physicality and discipline on the court," Ivers said. "Felicia Marshall and Khalia Jordan are people who don't lead vocally, but they lead with what they do on the court."
Those team leaders will have to be ready to get the team up for an upcoming rematch with San Diego City as the Griffins will look to get revenge on their cross-town foes. It won't be easy though.
"They [San Diego City] don't make a lot of errors, they work really hard - I think that their coach Dede Bodner does a good job of getting her players to go one hundred percent one hundred percent of the time. So when you're playing a team that kind of never dies that's tough, they're a gritty team. We don't have to win the first, second, or third contact, we have to win the fourth or fifth rally and eliminate our hitting errors."
Ivers acknowledged the potential advantage of being at home for the rematch when she mentioned the added boost her and her players get when they have a supportive crowd.
"There's an excitement to playing in our gym when there's a nice, rowdy crowd. I think our team has been a champion consistently [and] I would love our college to support our athletic program. I would love the students to be there to support it because getting on-campus support is a big deal…That's something I would love to see."
Be sure to be there for the big rematch with San Diego City on Friday, Nov. 3 at 3 p.m.
