Lady Cowboys Volleyball Team Recharges for 2011

Tryouts are not until mid-August, but the Lady Cowboys ranks are full, and they are already making moves to strengthen the team.

They are headed to their second skills clinic in Carrollwood next week. Clinics are staffed by assistant coach Laura Stegenga, who also coaches at the club level with Tampa Elite. She played for the USF club volleyball, and she’s going into her second year with the team.

Next weekend, the girls will head to The University of Florida for a volleyball camp hosted by Mary Wise, the Gators girls volleyball head coach.

“It’s a great opportunity to evaluate the girls. We go every year,” said head coach Tim Boylan.

It’s a team camp, so the girls practice their skills with their own teammates. That means going over things like serve-and-receive skills. The camp concludes with a tournament where guest coaches take over each high school team and compete to determine a champion.

“Last year, Marella Olivera, USF’s volleyball coach, took over our team,” said Boylan. “It’s a great chance to evaluate your team from the outside, learn new drills.”

It also exposes promising players to the college coaches they hope to be dealing with when they graduate.

As a team, the Lady Cowboys are in year two of their re-building phase.

In 2009, the girls went 15-4, winning the district title and making regionals, and most importantly, sweeping Sickles. That year, they graduated nine of their ten Varsity athletes.

Last season they put together a decent team, finishing 8-9 but they got swept by Sickles and they just hate that.

“We have to beat Sickles, that’s a big priority for us,” said senior captain Lena Rovellada.

Fortunately, the Lady Cowboys only graduated three players from last year’s team and they’ve re-loaded quite well.

“We had a good freshman class come in and we maintain a good nucleus of players,” said Boylan.

The unfortunate thing was all three graduates were - including two that transferred out - taller, middle players.

"We won’t have the height that we had last year but if we can fill that hole in the middle, we should be a good team,” said Boylan.

Boylan is hoping senior Ashley Wood and sophomore Andrea Mazur can step up and be those players.

Team captains, and seniors, Lena Rovellada and Lauren Dykes hope to carry the team as far as they can.

“Everyone is capable of being good on this team,” said Lauren.

Both captains anchor the back line, so the girls should be good in that area.

However, the strong turnout and intense workouts of the summer should put them into a position where they can improve on last year’s mark, threaten at districts, and most importantly, beat Sickles.

The girls are practicing at Buchanan Middle School while construction has Gaither closed down for the summer.

“We’ve had a great turnout this year, especially considering all the moving around,” said Boylan.

Check Patch for updates on the team.