The Chino Hills volleyball team comes into the new season trying to play catch up – literally.
Coach Dana Buzzerio, who had been in the program for eight years, stepped down after last season and Christina Johnson was named her successor. But Johnson had to resign before even coaching the first match because of new job responsibilities in her full-time gig at Cal State San Bernardino.
Enter Andy Farrow, also the assistant for Randy Bohlmann with the very successful Damien boys’ program. He interviewed in July but wasn’t formally approved until this week. So the girls have practiced with an on-campus faculty member looking on.
Farrow has a daughter that went through the program so he was familiar with the school and the program’s history so he is a good choice, albeit a late one.
The Huskies won’t play their first match until Sept. 13 and they will have only two before starting Baseline League play. Farrow was able to pick up a tournament at the end of the season but he is still looking to pickup a tournament or a handful of individual matches.
The light schedule is likely the result of the administrative turnover. Who knows where the ball was dropped. Not only did the Huskies have more than one change in coaches, the school also changed athletic directors.
“We’re going to be two to three months behind every team we’re going to be playing against,” Farrow said. “We just have to do what we can do and tray and get where we need to be by the end of the season.”
The Huskies do have talent. Senior Kenzie Koerber has committed to Utah and senior outside hitter Alexis Cardoza is a returning first team All-Inland Valley selection. That’s a good start.
Farrow will be looking to fill a void at setter as junior Courtney Buzzerio transferred to Orange Lutheran. Farrow said he has four candidates for that spot but he doesn’t have a lot of matches to experiment.
Baseline competition should be tough with Rancho Cucamonga looming as heavy favorite. St. Lucy’s is always in the playoff mix and Los Osos seems much improved. We’ll see how this drama plays out.