Getting to the playoffs hasn’t been a problem for the Comfort Deer volleyball program under coach Norma Viera, however getting past the opening round is another issue.
Comfort has been knocked out of the postseason in the first round the last three years and five times in the last six seasons and Viera is ready for the program to take the next step.
“I hate that one-and-done mentality. I’m trying to get away from that, that’s not good enough,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll get over that hump. The mentally is still there, ‘we can hang with them, but we can’t beat them.’ We need to try to get past that mentality.”
A look at the team
One thing that Viera is excited about is that four of her players are involved in club volleyball. In years past, the coach didn’t have any players who played year-round.
Once the volleyball season ended, the girls just moved on to the next sport and didn’t touch a volleyball until the following August, something not that unusual at the smaller schools like 3A Comfort.
“They play year-round, but mentally you still have to get there,” Viera said.
This year’s team has four starters back from last year and Viera said they are talented but added that they need to learn to finish.
“For the most part, we can play with any team as long as we stay in it, we’ll be okay,” she said.
The coach said there were a few things they needed to work on, specifically this season.
“Defense and talking on the block and being aggressive on every ball are things we need to get better at,” she said. “We need to make a play on every ball. Sometimes they stop playing, so we need relentless pursuit to every ball.”
Included on the roster is Kaley Pankratz, Bella Whitaker, Addison Roark, Katie Buck, Katie Haffner, Aubrey Finke, Emily Hill, Madison Gowan, Hope Van Geffen, Natalia Martinez, Ansley Hill, Bella Nieto, Corrine Brown, Jordan Judkins and Tindall Ahrens.
Pankratz, Whitaker, Haffner, Finke and Gowan are seniors, Roark, Buck, Van Geffen, Martinez, Hill and Nieto are juniors, Brown and Judkins are sophomores, while Hill and Ahrens are freshman in the 15-person roster.
Viera said she didn’t solidify her rotation until mid-August.
“By the second tournament, we should have a set rotation,” she said. “I’ll see who is the most consistent.”
A look at the district
Included in District 5-3A is Comfort, Florence, Ingram, Blanco, Brady and Llano.
The Deer were third last year at 7-3 in district and made the playoffs. The Deer took a game off Clyde in the opening round, but ultimately lost in four sets.
Viera was proud of how they played even though they didn’t win.
“We took a game off of them. I was happy because we played them well, they did well,” she said. “That team was pretty solid and I like what we got out of the playoffs.”
Viera said Blanco is usually the team to beat in the district and was hoping to scout all the upcoming league opponents soon.
“Blanco is always good,” she said. “Ingram, Llano, Florence and Brady will be tough. A lot of them have new coaches so we’ll see how they do.”
The coach said her main message to the team is pretty simple.
“Let’s go a few rounds (in the playoffs),” she said.
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