Deann Newton has taken the Sunlake volleyball team from perennial also-ran to state title contender.
And, she did it in just two seasons.
So, what’s the team’s reward for its third season? Really challenging practices.
“We don’t have a lot of down time in practice. We keep them going,” Newton said.
(Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)
The team goes hard the entire time at practice, with the junior varsity squad on one court and the varsity squad on the other. Athletes are yelling out communication to each other as volleyballs are being served at top speeds. Occasionally, a team takes a lap or two around the gymnasium, or one side of a court breaks into push-ups or crunches.
Players also focus on mental toughness, getting past mistakes, overcoming adversity and making adjustments on the fly.
Easy practices would be counterproductive to Newton’s goals, which is to keep building on the team’s success.
During her first season, the Seahawks logged its first winning season in school history, and in their second it made the state semifinals.
Now, players know they’re on a good team. The problem is, so does everybody else.
“After having success and going to state, everybody we play is going to be up for us,” Newton said. “Everyone’s going to be ready for us, everyone’s going to have their best match on us.”
To counter that new reputation, the coach wants to keep her players humble, challenged and hard at work.
All of the varsity girls play on club volleyball teams, and Newton is giving them even more work for the high school campaign.
She has scheduled a difficult preseason tournament, and has more booked where the team will face higher classes than their 6A status, which is an upgrade from last season. Since the team will face talented teams if it reaches the playoffs again, Newton wants her players to be ready to compete against the best well before the team’s district tournament.
Playing at a high level means also paying attention to statistics. Their serving, for example, should be at an 85-90 percent success rate according to Newton. Even though they opened their regular season with a 3-0 win against Fivay on Aug. 25, their serve success rate was at just 78 percent, which means it can get better over the course of the season, even as the team racks up victories.
And opponents can expect Sunlake to pile up quite a few victories, since the team didn’t lose many players from last season. Just two athletes, Sarah Sprague and Shaira Sanabria, were lost to graduation.
But those were very good players.
Both are playing volleyball at the college level, Newton said.
Also, losing two players means more than just filling two holes in the lineup. The coach has tinkered with the positions to field the strongest team possible, which means experienced players might need to learn a new role.
If those changes and rigorous workouts will equal greater success, the players are on board. Junior Nelly Diaz said the team is already putting in the effort.
“Each practice, we come in working 10 times harder than we did the last,” she said.
Part of that stems from a desire to overcome a sense that they didn’t play their best at the end of last season.
Although Sunlake reached the state semifinals, and the team was proud of their accomplishments, Diaz said the 3-0 defeat to Merritt Island was not a true reflection of the team’s talent.
Now, players are ready to get back to the postseason and prove they’re capable of achieving more.
Diaz knows the tough practice sessions are designed to make them stronger when they’re facing competitors and every point counts.
“As our athletic director (Reesa Pledge) and our coach say, ‘If you can’t take the heat in the gym, you can’t take the heat in the game.’ So we make sure that we are in condition and working hard 100 percent,” she said.
Newton also is giving 100 percent as coach, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. She became a coach after playing college volleyball at Western Oregon University.
After that, she took 10 years off to start a family.
Now that she’s back, she’s ready to build a winning program, get behind it and stay there. That could be bad news for opponents, because it means Sunlake should have a formidable team for several years to come.
In fact, she’s already recruiting several years in advance.
“I’m not going anywhere. My daughter (Taryn) is in third grade, and I plan to be here for the time she graduates and have her play for me,” she said.
Sunlake Seahawks volleyball schedule
Aug. 25 Sunlake 3, Fivay 0
Aug. 27 Sunlake 3, Wiregrass Ranch 1
Sept. 1 Sunlake 3, Land O’ Lakes 1
Sept. 3 Sunlake 3, Pasco 0
Sept. 8 vs. Springstead, 6 p.m.
Sept. 9 vs. Wesley Chapel, 6 p.m.
Sept. 11 Academy of Holy Names tournament
Sept. 12 Academy of Holy Names tournament
Sept. 15 at Mitchell, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 22 vs. Land O’ Lakes, 6 p.m.
Sept. 23 vs. Ridgewood, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 29 at Springstead, 6 p.m.
Oct. 1 at Zephyrhills, 6 p.m.
Oct. 6 vs. Mitchell, 6 p.m.
Oct. 9 Wharton Harvest Tournament
Oct. 10 Wharton Harvest Tournament
Oct. 13 vs. Anclote, 6 p.m.
Oct. 14 at River Ridge, 6 p.m.
Oct. 15 vs. Gulf, 6 p.m.
Oct. 20 District tournament at Sunlake begins
Published September 9, 2015
