California Pintos volleyball wants to go far in post season

<p>Democrat photo/ Kevin Labotka</p><p>The California Pintos volleyball team warms up during practice on Aug. 19. The team is looking to build on what was already a successful season last year, as it finished with a 26-6-3 record.</p>

Democrat photo/ Kevin Labotka

The California Pintos volleyball team warms up during practice on Aug. 19. The team is looking to build on what was already a successful season last year, as it finished with a 26-6-3 record.

The California Pintos volleyball team is looking to aim as high as possible after a winning season last year.

Last season, the California Pintos volleyball team finished the year with a 26-6-3 record and lost to Blair Oaks in the Class 3 District 9 Tournament semifinals. The team's jamboree is at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 29, at California.

The team is looking to going as far as they can this season, head coach Julie Bailey said.

"As any year, we want to be in the running for conference and district champs as well as go as far as possible in the post season," Bailey said. "At practice we are focusing on individual enthusiasm, team communication and aggressive play offensively and defensively to help us be as competitive as possible."

Over the summer, the team has played in the Eldon League and has competed in team camps at Branson and Camdenton.

"We developed as a team as the summer progressed while gaining some success and by playing more unified," Bailey said.

Bailey said the team needs to work on their aggressiveness, offensively and defensively.

"As the players become more comfortable with each other, I hope we are able to develop more consistent play," Bailey said.

A difference between this year's team and last year's team is experience, as the team lost several players to graduation last year.

"Last year we were blessed with a very experienced team," Bailey said. "All of our varsity players were juniors or seniors. Graduating seven senior leaders is forcing our four seniors this year to step up and develop their leadership skills. They all have been working hard to fill that role. Losing as many players as we have to graduation is going to give several younger players the opportunity to fill positions at the varsity level."

Heading into this season, Bailey said the team has talked about moving on from mistakes. She said instead of getting hung up, she wants her players to make corrections and be ready for the next play, so instead of letting negative thoughts affect their ability, her team can develop the right mindset to play at its best and experience a successful season.

"Many of our players are perfectionists and constantly pushing themselves to play better," Bailey said. "This mentality helps our players to always improve, but at the the same time they can be very hard on themselves and dwell on mistakes."

California volleyball schedule

Aug. 29 - Jamboree at California, 5:30 p.m.

Aug 31 - at Tri County Conference JV Tournament, 9 a.m.

Sept. 3 - at Linn, 5 p.m.

Sept. 5 - vs Boonville, 5 p.m.

Sept. 10 - vs Tolton, 5:30 p.m.

Sept. 12 - at Eldon, 5 p.m.

Sept. 14 - at Fulton Tournament, 8:30 a.m.

Sept. 16 - at Cole Camp, 5 p.m.

Sept. 19 - at Blair Oaks, 5 p.m.

Sept. 23 - vs Centralia, 5:30 p.m.

Sept. 26 - Ninth grade vs Blair Oaks, 6 p.m.

Sept. 28 - at Camdenton JV Tournament, TBA

Oct. 1 - at Southern Boone, 5 p.m.

Oct. 3 - at Hickman, 5 p.m.

Oct. 5 - at Warrensburg Tournament, 8:30 a.m.

Oct. 7 - vs Rock Bridge, 5 p.m.

Oct. 8 - vs Versailles, 5 p.m.

Oct. 10 - at North Callaway, 5:30 p.m.

Oct. 15 - at Fatima, 5:30 p.m.

Oct. 17 - vs School of the Osage, 5 p.m.

Oct. 19 - at Versailles Tournament, 9 a.m.

Oct. 21 - vs Smith-Cotton, 5 p.m.

Oct. 22 - at Hallsville, 5:30 p.m.

Oct. 28-30 - District tournament, TBA