Lady Dragons in search of new floor QB
By Glenn Sattell
Chronicle correspondent
Many people compare the setter on a volleyball team to the quarterback on the football team. Both have the key task of distributing the ball to the proper place.
And that's about the only thing missing from The John Cooper School's 2010 volleyball team.
It's going to be an interesting year," coach Jim Richardson said. Basically we have all of our starters coming back with the exception of one and that's our setter."
That could make for a slow start for a Lady Dragons' team coming off perhaps its best season.
That's our situation this year; we don't have an upcoming setter," Richardson said. So it's probably going to be a rough start for us in the beginning to try to train another setter for the season.
Other than that the dynamics of the team are still there. I think they can still go out and contend. It's going to be interesting at first."
Richardson welcomes back a solid group of veterans that includes outside hitter Nora Camstra, Jessica Strayer, Graham Browning, Mimi Rajapaksa, and Elena Malek, who could rejoin the team mid-season. Richardson said he is also hopeful for contributions from Olivia Dalli, Andrea Horwege and Elish Domeshek.
I don't know how many have moved over the summer," he said. It could be interesting."
Richardson said he knows the challenges in Southwest Preparatory Conference play as well.
We're in a tough conference with St. John's, who is the Division I champions from last year," he said.
But he added that he feels like the Lady Dragons could compete with the development of a setter. He said Browning and Strayer would vie for the position.
They're both middles," Richardson said. They both have set in the past with their club teams. So I really think if we can find a transition in our offense then we can probably go out and compete with the rest of our conference."
Richardson said he is confident that the team can produce similar results to what it did last year. The 2009 Lady Dragons set the school record for wins in a season when they posted a 23-14 mark.
If we can fill that setting hole that we have, then I think the remainder of the group will be pretty solid," he said.
