Dons Girl's Volleyball Open League Play in Convincing Fashion

There is no easy path to greatness, no matter how few bumps may appear in the road. That is the theme of Coach Will Reinhart’s message to his team after they opened East Valley League play on Wednesday with a convincing win over the Chavez Eagles, 3 games to 0. The Dons were not forced into anything resembling a stressful situation, as they took the games by scores of 25-5, 25-4, and 25-9, but that does not mean they were not focused on the task at hand. “We’re capable of playing like that against any team,” said Reinhart as he continued to stress the importance of every game. “These are games that are a good time to show our focus.”

The matchup was played relatively error free by the Dons, as they look to use every opportunity to build the consistency necessary to realize their title aspirations. On Wednesday, they put together a solid team effort and were again led by Ana and Yahaira Vazquez. Ana finished with 3 kills, 2 assists, 1 block and 4 aces. Yahaira, who sat out the entire second game, finished with 6 kills and 1 assist. They were joined in filling the statsheet by Ika and Marija Vukic. Ika finished with 1 kill, 9 assists and 8 aces. Marija continued her run of matches without a service error and added 1 kill, 1 assist, and 1 block to go along with 4 aces.

Four games is the tip of the iceberg when looking at an entire season, especially one with lofty goals. But these four games show a team that is close to hitting its stride in time for a big East Valley League match in 2 weeks against the defending league champion Grant Lancers. In the meantime, the Dons will visit Monroe High School next Monday, September 13 and host Arleta High School next Wednesday, September 15. “We will keep challenging (the team) to get them ready for the bigger challenges ahead,” said Reinhart, “Our biggest challenge (as a coaching staff) is to get them to take themselves seriously.”