Volleyball: Improving defense will be key for Tigers

It took 10 months, but Douglas High volleyball coach Suzi Townsell finally sat down and watched the film from last season's epic regional title matchup against Reno.

The film played out with as much intensity as there had been live, with Reno taking the title in five back-and-forth games, 25-18, 23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 15-12.

"That was a killer," Townsell said. "I got chills watching it."

But in reliving the match, Townsell noticed something glaring right back at her. As Reno rallied for the final four points of the match, erasing a 12-11 Tiger lead, it wasn't hard to see.

"There was just so much defensive stuff on our part," she said. "If we just would have been a little crisper out there, that would have been the difference in the entire game.

"We are really going to key on defense this year. We were good last year, but there is always room for improvement " three points, four points of improvement and we would've been at state."

Just in case one couldn't pick up this year's theme from that, the point would have been translated as Townsell ran down this year's roster, with the word "defense" coming up again and again.

But not to be lost in any of that is Townsell's assertion that the team was indeed good last year. Very good.

Sierra League champs. A 33-5 overall record. Only two losses to Northern Nevada teams (both to Reno). Oh, and five out of Douglas' top seven players are back.

The crazy thing though, with as much veteran power as Douglas will be coming in with, is that the true strength of this year's squad will be the overall depth.

"I kept 14 on the team," Townsell said. "We have a very strong group of older girls, but I brought four sophomores up to push them. They'll push the older girls and take us to a higher level as a team.

"If we want to win a championship, it's going to have to be all 14 players taking us there. There were times last year when I looked down our bench and thought, 'what now?' With this many players, I'm trying to force a friendly competitiveness out there.

If we want to get where we want to be, every player on the roster is going to have to give 110 percent."

The Tigers spent the summer in rigorous workouts, including a full month at Zephyr Cove doing beach work.

Junior outside hitter Jourdan Burke, who led the team with 226 kills last season, took on a particularly strenuous load with several intensive camps coupled with her high school open gyms. She came away a bit hobbled on her knee.

"She went to some very tough camps and went right into two-a-days," Townsell said. "We're praying that it's not serious, we'll do some therapy with her to hopefully get her going in time for the season."

Burke is scheduled for an MRI this week.

"She is looking great though, she's a lot stronger and she is jumping higher and she definitely put the work in to be one of the premiere hitters in the area," Townsell said.

"We just have to wait and see what happens."

Douglas will hope to parlay that intensity into a tougher league schedule this year as traditional powers Fallon and Galena move into the league with upstart Manogue.

Those three replace defending regional champion Reno and traditionally easy matches against Hug and North Valleys.

"All three of the new teams will be pretty strong," Townsell said. "Manogue played as a group all year and they should be very good.

"Fallon is always strong and Galena knows how to bring it on. There won't be any easy weeks for us. It will be good competition every week. We'll have to keep it up the whole year, so hopefully when the playoffs come around we'll already be playing at our highest level."

Townsell also gave a nod to the rest of the league, Damonte Ranch in particular.

"Damonte will be right in there," she said. "Carson, Wooster and South Tahoe will be competitive. It's just a good league top to bottom."

The starting lineup won't change drastically as seniors Megan Mitchell, Jessica Waggoner and Taryn Williams will anchor things down. Supposing Burke's knee checks out, she'll make Douglas' fourth returning starter out of a possible six.

"I expect Jourdan to make a full recovery," Townsell said. "She'll bring a lot to the team."

Waggoner (178 blocks, 121 kills in 2007) is one of the top blockers in the state and has already garnered a number of college scholarship offers, including one from Army.

"I'm hoping to get Jessica a lot more sets this year," Townsell said. "We've talked about how we have to set her up in the middle more. In the Reno match, whenever she got the ball, she made something happen. We didn't get her nearly enough sets in that match. We'll be working her hard this year."

Mitchell (596 assists, 110 blocks, 65 digs, 51 kills, 34 aces), one of Douglas' captains, enters the year with a legitimate shot at league player of the year honors and is also drawing a lot of interest at the next level as a setter.

"Megan is incredible," Townsell said. "She has improved so much. She'll be jump setting as much as she can, which will mess with the blockers on the other side.

She's gotten a lot stronger and she is our quarterback out there."

Williams (201 kills, 123 digs, 34 aces and 33 blocks) is the team's other captain and will be another starter on the outside.

"She's just a happy person," Townsell said. "She'll keep the team relaxed and she'll be focusing more on defense this year, because that is more of the role she'd like to take on in college. A couple of schools have contacted me about her already."

One of the new faces expected to break into the starting lineup will be junior Bryanna Schinzing.

"She'll be starting on the right," Townsell said. "She can play in the middle too. She is nice and tall and she and Jessica blocking together will be really good. She's come on really strong and had a great club season."

Mysta Townsell is expected to get the nod at the libero (defensive specialist) slot after posting 107 digs in limited action last season. She'll receive close competition from her sister, sophomore Mia Townsell, and senior Jordan Marsh,

Junior Christine DuPuis (35 kills) and sophomores Shannon Dugan and Jackie Harper will round out Douglas' deep group of outside hitters while junior Jamie Lorntzen and sophomore Emily Garcia will be playing the middle.

Junior Rebecca Antti will share time on the right with Schinzing.

"Emily probably has the best blocking footwork I've ever seen for a middle and Jamie gives us a lot to work with," Townsell said. "Rebecca has improved a ton over the offseason. She's blocking great, hitting strong and her defensive game is very strong. She'll be a great addition for us.

Douglas opens its season Friday in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Invitational in a 40-team bracket.

n Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.