Volleyball: Beatty Hornets believe they can be contenders

BEATTY - Hornets volleyball is back in the swing of things after completing their first week of school.

The team, headed by second-year coach Steve Sullivan, hopes to return to the state tournament for the third year in a row.

Last year Beatty lost three seniors, but have five returning starters with seven returning letter winners.

Sullivan says the loss of the three players will be hard to replace.

“There are some possible replacements for those three, but if not, we should still be very strong,” Sullivan said. “Our returning outside hitters will be Claudia Granados and Vanessa Gamboa, with Lexi Gil returning as setter and Anel Gamboa and Bridget Vieyra returning as a middle.”

He said other starters will be Karina Villanueva, who will move to middle and Ari Oseguera taking over at opposite.

The coach likes Villanueva in the middle because of her aggressive style of play.

“Karina has one of the better verticals on the team and she is pretty aggressive,” he said. “So she won’t be afraid to be aggressive on the net as one of our primary blockers.”

Oseguera is also a quality veteran who played last year.

“Ari played both outside hitter and opposite last year so the transition to solely opposite this year will be quite easy,” he said.

Beatty finished last year 13-7 overall and made it to the semifinal match in the state tournament, where they lost to Smith Valley.

The coach believes his team can contend this year too.

“With the personnel we have returning we should have a very strong season with every girl playing a vital role,” the coach said. “These girls have been to state the past two years and have lost to Smith Valley the past two years. We may win and we may lose, but either way we moved forward a stronger and smarter team.”

The future for Beatty volleyball also looks bright. This summer close to 26 players came out for the sport.

Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com