APTOS >> Marcela Frazzoni didn’t pick the Cabrillo College women’s team to play for because it has been to the state tournament four of the past five seasons. She wasn’t lured in by the Seahawks’ two California Community College Athletic Association finals appearances in the past two years, nor their 2013 state title — the first for a Northern California team in more than three decades.
No, the sophomore transfer from Santiago, Chile, took what one might call a splatter approach to picking her next collegiate volleyball team.
And she just happened to hit the bull’s eye.
“I hadn’t seen anything,” she said. “But I think I found the best place.”
Cabrillo will try to qualify for the CCCAA state championships for the third straight year and fifth time in six years at 6:30 Tuesday night when it hosts San Joaquin Delta in one of two NorCal finals. The winner will be one of four teams that earn berths to state, slated for Saturday and Sunday at the College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita.
If Cabrillo prevails, Frazzoni — who was recently named the Coast Conference North MVP — most likely will have had a hand in it.
“We’re 25-1 and a lot of it has had to do with Marcela,” said Cabrillo coach Gabby Houston-Neville. “She’s our MVP. We would be a different team if we didn’t have her.”
Houston-Neville didn’t know what she might get when she responded to an email inquiry from Frazzoni last December. She only knew that a 5-foot-9 outside hitter who had received a full scholarship to play for the College of Central Florida was looking to relocate, and fast.
The inquiry, it turns out, was one of dozens that Frazzoni had sent to colleges and universities throughout California. Unhappy with the Patriots’ coach but determined to play volleyball, she decided after the 2014 season to move to the West Coast to be closer to her brother, Roberto, who was the starting setter for UC Irvine when it won the NCAA Division I title in 2013.
She did a little research, but mostly sent a barrage of letters to any school with both sand and indoor programs. Houston-Neville was one of the first to reply. That was in part because she’d stayed home for the holidays and in part because, with just one returning starter and as many as 11 freshmen filling her roster, she hoped a 21-year-old with community college experience could add a little maturity to the team.
She got all that and more.
“My first impression of her was that she was exactly what we needed,” Houston-Neville said. “Serious, super-hard work ethic, respectful of the program and her teammates, doesn’t make excuses for herself or her teammates …
“She was just what we needed. She was intense and she was not going to settle.”
A heavy-armed hitter, Frazzoni leads Cabrillo with an average of 3.72 kills per set, the 15th best average in the CCCAA. Her 2.59 digs/set are third-best for the Seahawks behind defensive specialist Natalie Picone (3.11) and libero Alyssa Nelson (2.79).
Frazzoni is the type of player who puts in extra hours in the weight room and the gym so she can be the best player possible. In fact, her drive to play at her peak ability is what prompted her to leave Chile — where she said competitive volleyball is nonexistent after high school — and seek opportunities in the United States.
“To be 18 and be done would be, ‘Wow!’” said Frazzoni, whose father played for eight years on the Chilean national team and who herself was the captain of a junior national team when she was a teen. “I can’t imagine not playing. It’s my life.”
While Cabrillo’s record doesn’t show it — the Seahawks have only lost one match and a total of 13 sets this season — it took a while for this year’s squad to jell. With Frazzoni setting the tone and providing leadership, though, it has become a team Houston-Neville said she believes is capable of doing more than just reaching the state tournament.
First, though, Seahawks, the No. 1 seed in NorCals, has to get through No. 4 Delta, the Big 8 Conference champion. A defensive-minded team, the Mustangs (21-5) have the second-most digs in the state. Libero Daniella Arteaga leads them with an average 5.86/set, followed by outside hitter Cassidy Caton’s 4.62 digs and 3.86 kills/set.
Cabrillo won’t rely entirely on Frazzoni to get the job done. With plenty of talent on the court — including locally grown middles Patrice Williams and Amber Bothman and dominant opposite Olivia Tabron — smart setter Eden Fukushima might, however, experiment with the splatter approach.
That would be just fine with Frazzoni.
“I was just here to play,” Frazzoni said. “But we’ve come so far. I’m really hoping and think we’ll go even farther.”
