It'll be a tall order trying to stop Thousand Oaks

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers TEAM TO BEAT?- Hilary Hougardy and the Thousand Oaks girls' volleyball team enters the season as back-to-back league champions. It seems as if the Thousand Oaks girls' volleyball team is trying to reach new heights.

This season, James Park's squad at TOHS features seven players that are 5-foot-10 or taller. If everything goes according to plan, Park is hoping the team will be looking down at everyone else in the Marmonte League standings as well.

"In all of the years I've ever coached, this is the tallest team I've ever had," Park said. "You can't teach height, and I'm looking for those players to do a great job at serving, receiving and playing tight defense."

One of the players returning for the Lancers is junior Hannah Clancy. Clancy, who is 5-foot-10 and is one of the best setters in the league, is thrilled with the Lancers' imposing roster.

"It's such a great feeling to be on a team loaded with so many tall players," Clancy said. "It's nice to know that I can put the ball just about anywhere and be confident that someone is going to make a great play on it at the net."

Some of the players Clancy will be setting up this year include 6-foot-1 middle blocker Kelsey Neumann, outside hitters Ellen Querrey and Kat Luft, who both stand in at 5-foot-11, and Maile Hetherington, who's 5-foot-10.

"Kelsey is our best middle blocker, and I look for her to do big things this year," Park said. "She is a very pivotal player, and she's able to do many things well on the court.

"Kat is probably our most overpowering hitter right now, while Maile and Ellen are solid all-around."

Joining Neumann as a middle blocker are juniors Paige Mitchell and Shannon Pearson, both of whom played on the junior varsity team last season. The juniors are 5-foot-11.

"Overall we have a more consistent team than last year, which is good because in this league you need more than just two solid players to win," Park said.

Winning is something Thousand Oaks is used to. The team is coming off back-to-back league titles. In the last two years, the Lancers have only lost one league game en route to an overall record of 40-5.

"The players here realize the tradition of winning," Park said. "I think that helps them in crucial moments in big games because they know this team has a history of coming through in those situations."

Although TOHS has done well in league play, the Lancers could not get past the second round of the CIFSouthern Section Division I playoffs last year when they lost to Redondo Union. This time around the team expects to go further in the postseason.

"Our team is similar to last year's team, except our mindset is that we want to win CIF this year," Clancy said. "We were confident last season, but at the same time we had a new coach that we weren't sure would be like. This year we are used to Coach Park, and everyone is on the same level as him."

Hetherington said when the team is playing at its best, they are tough to beat.

"There is a big difference in us just playing by going through the motions and us giving our best," Hetherington said. "Last year when we lost to Moorpark, we knew that we didn't play our best game and that's why we got beat. When we played Redondo Union we got beat because we didn't play our best."

Hetherington went on to say that the playoff loss will still help the team this year.

"We now have a better feeling of what our competition is once we get into the playoffs," Hetherington said. "You get that little taste of a victory in the playoffs, and you want more. I definitely want to go far this year since it's my last season at Thousand Oaks."

According to Park, his team should be considered one of the league favorites.

"Westlake and Moorpark are very good, but I think this year people are expecting us to win league, where I think everyone was predicting we would finish third last year because we lost a lot of players," Park said.

"Overall, we are a muchimproved team. In order to win this league we are going to have to get consistent play from our seniors and improve a little more on our passing."

Thousand Oaks played yesterday against Harvard-Westlake but as of press time the score was unavailable. The Lancers play Friday at home against Arcadia, with game time set for 6 p.m.