Eagles may soar yet again in ’05

Rick Devereux

Any team that loses a CIF Southern Section Player of the Year, a

league MVP, and graduates five seniors from a championship season

would be hard-pressed to remain confident about the upcoming year.

But Tracey Ingraham, now in her fifth season guiding the Estancia

High boys volleyball team, is positive the Eagles will once again fly

deep into the CIF Division III playoffs.

“Any time you win a championship, it’s hard to duplicate it the

next season, but we’re setting our goals for the CIF championship,”

Ingraham said. “People assume we’ve lost everyone [from the

championship team], but I know we have the potential to be a

championship team, especially with [setter] Trevor Holmes leading the

team.”

Holmes was selected to the Newport-Mesa Dream Team, first-team

All-Golden West League and second-team All-CIF last year, helping

Estancia finish 28-6 and claim league and Division III titles.

“If I had to pick one player to return, it would be my setter,”

Ingraham said.

And Holmes is an excellent setter to have returning. The 6-foot

senior is skilled at distributing the ball to various hitters,

keeping the opposition guessing about how to defend. He is also

accomplished at the net, blocking and dumping the ball (delivering it

over the net instead of setting a hitter) when the opportunity

arises.

“I think all he needs is to get used to his new hitters,” Ingraham

said. “The main area he has improved in the off-season is leadership.

He’s falling right into that with a good balance of giving his

teammates pointers and helping them out, to being more demanding and

strict.”

The hitters aren’t entirely new.

Senior Scott Markley, who was a defensive specialist last year,

will be an outside hitter this season.

“We knew he could hit last year, but with [first-team All-CIF

selection Kris] Hartwell and [first-team all-league selection Brad]

Larson in front of him, we didn’t need him to hit,” Ingraham said.

“Some outside hitters are great hitters and just OK in the back row.

Scott is very consistent at the net and in the back. He hits hard,

too. He’s not intimidated when he faces bigger blockers. He can hit

right through them.”

Another player filling big shoes is junior middle blocker Dallas

Kopp. Gone is 6-6 first-team All-CIF selection Scott Sankey, so Kopp

will be called upon to fill the void.

“Last year Dallas only played the front row,” Ingraham said. “Now

we will play him like Sankey last year, playing all six [rotations].

He is diving on the ground after balls in practice. Sankey used to

dig a lot of balls for us. And we will set [Kopp] out of the back row

like we did Sankey.”

Ian Lamb joins Kopp and Markley as juniors who played varsity last

year and expect to see increased playing time in 2005. Lamb, a

reserve last year, will be a defensive specialist this season.

“Ian really paid his dues last year,” Ingraham said. “He is solid

at passing and digging. I’m expecting some big things from him in his

second year on the varsity team.”

Four of the remaining five varsity players were on the junior

varsity squad last year and the fifth is a transfer.

Shaun Markley, Scott’s twin brother, will see action at outside

hitter.

Ryan Watson has practiced at every position but will probably see

playing time opposite Holmes as the right-side hitter.

Tom Fryslie will also contribute at outside hitter, but could play

a few rotations at middle blocker.

Alex LeGrand is a 6-1 junior middle blocker.

Leonard Juska is a 6-4 junior transfer from Servite and is

athletic enough to provide depth at outside hitter, middle blocker

and the back row.

Ingraham is sad to see the outstanding players from a year ago

leave, but is excited about the group she has on the court.

“I coached [the same kids] for three years straight, so it’s nice

to have some fresh faces,” she said. “My main goal was to keep the

program going. People thought it was a fluke we won [CIF last year],

but people are going to see [the program] keep going.”

One of the main ingredients to last year’s success was powerful

jump serves in five of the six rotations. Ingraham said there are

currently three jump servers on the team, but they are working on

getting all six rotations to deliver tough serves.

“A lot of these guys practiced with us for CIF, so they know what

tough competition is because they played against our team,” Ingraham

said. “Most of them have been in the program for a few years so it’s

not as unfamiliar as I expected it might be.”

The Eagles (9-3, 3-0 in league) visit Golden West League and

crosstown rival Costa Mesa Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in a showdown of

league unbeatens.