Purr-fect start for the Panthers

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers WINNING WAYS—Newbury Park High's Morgan Collet, back, looks on as Andreya Van Buren digs a ball during Monday's victory at Calabasas. The Panthers are off to their best start in years. From middle of the pack to the top of the heap in less than a year. It's been a dramatic turnaround for the Newbury Park High girls' volleyball team.

After finishing in fourth place in the Marmonte League last season and posting a sub.500 overall record, the Panthers entered Wednesday night's showdown at Thousand Oaks with a 13-4-1 record and 5-0 mark in league play.

Leading the revamped Newbury Park attack is first-year head coach John Haroun, whose hardworking approach to preparing his players has many on the NPHS squad in the best volleyball shape of their lives, both physically and mentally.

"My goal when I came here was to become the best team we could be," Haroun said. "I didn't really think they were the best team, and I saw a lot of areas for improvement."

Haroun, who guided a team to a state title when he was coaching in Dallas, immediately implemented an offseason conditioning program at Newbury Park. Although the season didn't begin until September, the Panthers began preparing their bodies and minds for the campaign ahead in February.

"If you're going to play at a high level, you need to have offseason training; you need to make that type of commitment," Haroun said.

As they trained throughout the summer, the players, a tightknit group that hangs out together on and off the court, began to realize that a team devoid of superstars must rely on its versatility and depth to be successful.

"We mesh really well together, and everyone knows each other's duties," senior setter Jackie Russell said. "We don't need one person to take over all the responsibility to make plays."

A tough non-league schedule to open the season helped the Panthers build confidence. NPHS competed in the Cougar Classic, Dave Mohs Tournament and the Royal Classic. Playing and succeeding against top teams from Orange County made the Panthers believe they belong among the upper-echelon of teams in the Southland.

"Playing at that level, we got a taste of top competition, and that's where we want to stay," senior middle blocker Chelcy Westphal said. "We want to play at that level every time we step onto the court."

When league play got underway on Sept. 23 at Moorpark, the Panthers had already begun to build plenty of positive momentum.

NPHS defeated Moorpark, a preseason favorite to win the Marmonte, in four games. Less than a week later, the Panthers upended Westlake on the Warriors' home court.

"We kind of expected to win those matches," Westphal said. "We knew we were coming into the season a lot better than we ever had before. We didn't know what the other teams would be like, though. We just knew that league was up in the air."

Senior outside hitter Meghann Schmidt said that before the season began the team wrote down a list of goals they wanted to accomplish. Having things to shoot for has provided plenty of motivation.

"It really helps to put things into perspective of what we need to do individually and as a team," Schmidt said.

"We want to protect our house—to win every home match—and to win every fifth game we play. We also wrote down to have fun, be consistent and use tenacious defense."

Standouts thus far include senior outside hitter Rachel Smith, the team leader with 4.9 kills per game, and Russell, the setter.

"We ask (Smith) to do a lot," Haroun said. "She's our kill leader, a primary passer in our offense, and she's a good server. She does so many things for us. . . .

"Jackie Russell runs our 5-1 offense. She has to produce when she's serving and spread the ball around. She's taken on all that responsibility and has really grown into a good player."

Others who have contributed to the Panthers' winning ways include Amber Glabb, Erika Smith, Veronica Ban, Caylin Rosenthal, Andreya Van Buren, Morgan Collet, Karissa Flack and Maddy Williams.

Newbury Park's next match is scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Royal.