Shadow Ridge hopes experienced squad leads to state title

Coaching high school sports is not an easy animal to tame. Coaches have four years to groom players to win a state title, and they can’t rely on any recruiting skills that college coaches have.

So when Shadow Ridge girls volleyball made it all the way to the state semifinals last season, it could have been the end of the road. But fortunately for coach Karissa Guthrie, she returns most of her core with plans to follow up and exceed 2015’s results.

“Knowing that we have so many girls returning, especially the all-state players returning as well, that definitely doesn’t hurt.” Guthrie said with a chuckle.

Returning are 2015 Review-Journal first-team all-state outside hitter Whittnee Nihipali and second-team libero Kizzy Rodriguez along with eight other letter winners and four starters. But they aren’t alone.

A program of Shadow Ridge’s caliber typically knows what the varsity lineup will be before the season. Tryouts are more for backups and junior varsity players. But the 2016 Mustangs are a little different. This year three sophomores transferred into a program that already has four starters returning from last year.

So as practices continue on the way to the first game of the season at home against Bishop Gorman on Aug. 30, the starting six are still anyone’s guess.

“Every year there could be one, two, three surprises that even I wasn’t thinking of going into tryouts,” Guthrie said. “Then I see them and there they are.”

But state championships are won and lost by the upperclassmen. Experienced varsity players know their role on the team is two-pronged: produce at a high level and begin molding the younger players into future leaders.

“We have pretty high expectations for the new girls coming into our program during the summer and even the first few weeks of practice,” Guthrie said. “I really think it’s up to the lot of the leadership of a lot of those older girls to set the tone, make sure those kids know what the expectations are, working hard, doing well in school, all that kind of stuff.”

Guthrie enters her 12th season as head coach of Shadow Ridge. The Mustangs went 27-13 last year including 8-0 in the Southwest. It was Nihipali’s and Rodriguez’s sophomore season so hopes are high for Shadow Ridge in 2016.

And if a state championship isn’t in the cards for this season, the core is still there for a run in 2017, a luxury not many schools enjoy.

Justin Emerson can be reached at jemerson@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @J15Emerson