Looking at the typical websites used to track outstanding high school volleyball players in the Monterey Bay Area, there isn’t much evidence of what contributions setter Elise Coash made to her Aptos High team this season. She’s not ranked among the assist leaders by Monterey Bay Prep Report. None of her stats from this season appear on MaxPreps.com.
Yet anyone who watched the Mariners play this season could see clearly that the team’s success rested squarely on Coash’s sure hands and quick feet. That’s why coaches from around the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League recently recognized the junior as the league’s Most Valuable Player.
“She just makes that team so much better,” said Harbor High coach and league representative Matt Schutz. “They’re good, and she just makes them better.”
Aptos (18-5, 14-0) swept through the SCCAL regular season, losing just one set in 14 matches (to Scotts Valley), on its way to a share of its sixth league title in seven years. The Mariners ended up sharing that title with Harbor after the Pirates won the SCCAL Tournament after knocking Aptos off in the semifinal round. The Mariners recollected themselves in time for the Central Coast Section Division III playoffs, however. They were one of the last teams standing, alongside Mount Madonna in D-V, as both teams reached the CCS semifinals before being eliminated.
The Mariners’ success led to it receiving several honors during the all-league voting. Middle blocker Maddy Bol and opposite Karsen Welle each received all-SCCAL first-team selections, while Lucas Bol was named co-Coach of the Year alongside Mount Madonna’s PK McDonald. The Mariners’ Madi Dueck was also honored on the all-league second team.
Coash makes it two straight years the MVP award has gone to a setter, following in the footsteps of Soquel’s Alli Walters.
“It’s not an easy thing to be a setter, that’s one of the reasons we gave Elise so much credit and Alli Walters the year before,” Schutz said. He added, “It’s a quarterback, point guard thing where you’re going to touch the ball a lot and make a lot of quick decisions and it’s going to put a lot of pressure on that one player.”
According to mbaypreps.com, Bol led the entire Monterey Bay region in blocks, averaging one per set. She had 78 total. The senior also led the Mariners in kills with 242 — fourth highest in the SCCAL and the most for a middle. Welle, also a senior, tallied the third-most kills (159) for Aptos and Dueck was second (171).
Coash finished with 712 assists, 92 kills, 136 digs, 35 aces and 38 blocks. She said she doesn’t need her name to be up in lights or at the top of a leaderboard.
“It doesn’t bother me that much,” said Coash, who was the first-team all-SCCAL setter last year and the Freshman of the Year in 2013. “I know that I have a piece of every kill that someone gets because I set that.”
Soquel’s 2015 selections impressed with their firepower. Sophomore Maggie Walters and senior Camryn Rocha led the entire Monterey Bay area in kills, according to mbaypreps.com, with Walters averaging 5.4 per set and Rocha chiming in with 4.7. It was behind those two that the Knights (12-11, 10-4) finished second in the regular-season standings, behind Aptos. They reached the SCCAL Tournament final, but fell to Harbor. They also had the bad luck of being paired against Aptos in the CCS D-III quarterfinals and took the loss.
Two outstanding players on teams that came on strong late in the season, and one player on a team that is gradually making progress in keeping up in a highly competitive SCCAL, round out the rest of the first-team selections.
Senior middle Rebecca Lee, in addition to Sportsmanship award winner Meghan Pieratt, had to carry Harbor (12-18, 8-6) on her shoulders for much of the season as early injuries and absences left the Pirates with little varsity experience on the court. Their patience paid off, as the team rallied together for a satisfying late run that led to them snagging a share of the title. Pieratt led the Pirates in assists with about 550. Lee finished with a team-high 232 kills on a .456 hitting percentage and 61 blocks, which also led the team.
“She was great for us all year,” Schutz said of Lee. “She carried our team when we needed her to carry us throughout some tough spots, and we had high expectations for her all year.”
Mount Madonna had been excited about Sophie Ortiz joining its team since her sophomore year, and she didn’t disappoint. As a senior outside hitter this season, she finished third in the league in kills with 4.3 per set for the Hawks (18-11, 9-5), who secured third-place in the league with a last-match upset of Soquel. But she has also been an emotional leader on a tiny-school team that relies on chemistry as much as talent for its success.
Coash may have won the MVP, but she got a run for the best setter award from Scotts Valley’s Megan Lonhart. A four-year starter, she wrapped up her career averaging 6.2 assists per set for the sixth-place Falcons (9-14, 6-8).
Coash said she felt expectations of her were high as she entered her third season starting with the Mariners.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever know if I lived up to it,” she said. “I think I did. I have a lot of support from my family and teammates to withstand that pressure. Plus, I’ve been setting for a while, so think I’m kind of used to it.”
She’d better be. In August she agreed to attend UC Irvine in 2017. She expects to play setter.
