SVC rewards six Vista volleyball players

After a breakout 2010 season in which they captured the Division III Sac-Joaquin Section championship, the Vista del Lago volleyball team is deservedly reaping the rewards of an amazing year.Coach Patrick Sanders was named the Sierra Valley Conference Co-Coach of the year along with Union Mine's Mike Yates. Sanders guided his young team to a 35-8 record while securing a share of the SVC crown with Union Mine before taking the postseason by storm and bringing the D-III banner to Vista. "We had an absolutely fantastic season," said Sanders. "The coach of the year award is a great honor and really shows how hard these girls have worked. Our coaching staff has asked for a lot from these girls and they responded with a great work ethic throughout the year. We couldn't have been happier with their progress this season."Middle blockers Brittanie McKenzie and Kendall Moore, hitters Kelsey Sampson and Caroline Sipiora, and setter Francesca Premiere all earned All-SVC first team honors while libero Jordan Cryderman rounded out the honorable mention list. "As a team, we worked a lot harder this year," said Cryderman. "We lost a lot of girls from last year but we gained some girls from JV that were really ready to come up and play and that really helped us."Sampson, Moore, Cryderman and Sipiora — who also received All-League honors as a freshman a year ago -- make up a quartet of sophomores that headline the All-League squad. Vista's version of the "core four" represents the nucleus of Lady Eagle volleyball for 2011 and 2012. Premiere, a senior exchange student from Italy, settled in nicely at the setter position and developed a great chemistry with her teammates as the season went along. McKenzie, also a senior, was a solid defender at the net and gave the Eagles experience and another consistent option in their offensive schemes."We will dearly miss our seniors (McKenzie, Premiere, Mary Kate Holden and Elena Sheskier). Although their departure leaves some voids in our team, we are extremely excited about the sophomores and juniors that we have returning in our program," Sanders said. "As a program, we continue to raise our expectations and hope that we can build off of the amazing success we've had this year."All of the players that were selected to the SVC All-League team were quite deserving. The number of girls that were chosen for the team is indicative of how balanced we were this year. Everyone contributed to the team effort," he added.