Paradise >> Most coaches bend and break daily about how their teams will compete in league every year.
But this year, Paradise High varsity girls volleyball coach John Parks isn’t as concerned about league as how the Bobcats’ first month of the season goes due to the transition to the newly-formed eight-team West Side-Butte View League
“Our league doesn’t get us ready for playoffs,” Park said Thursday night after a scrimmage at home with Durham. “We only play one division III team in our league all year.”
That’s Las Plumas, as the Thunderbirds will accompany Paradise, Oroville and Corning in the WSL, while Wheatland, Sutter, Orland and Gridley make up the D-IV only BVL.
“I want to play bigger schools,” Parks said.
Saturday’s Durham tournament, which is Paradise’s season-opener, will be mostly a combination of D-III through VI teams, with Paradise opening up against Central Valley (D-IV) at 10 a.m., followed by Providence (D-VI) at noon, LP (D-III) at 2 p.m., Modoc (D-V) at 4 p.m., Oroville (D-IV) at 5 p.m., and Durham (D-V) in Paradise’s nightcap of the day scheduled to begin approximately at 7 p.m. — a total of six games for Parks to open the 2016 season.
“We have a lot of really good pieces, we just have to get them in the right spots and let them grow together,” Parks said.
Paradise’s returning firepower is centered round senior middle Serena Riddle and junior outside hitter Carly Otten, both of whom were top-10 in the Eastern Athletic-Sacramento River League in kills a year ago.
Sophomore Rachael Warren should also provide help at the net as the complement to Riddle, while senior Gillian Smith is an experienced right side attacker and junior Abby Baber can play right and left side, Parks said.
He also said senior Cassidy Brott will likely start opposite Otten at the left pin.
“I have a really good offense when everything is connecting,” he said. “It is just getting it all to gel.”
The setting position is perhaps Paradise’s biggest unknown at this point, with the insertions of senior Katie Pickering and junior Rebekah Edwards into the starting lineup, replacing senior veterans Mariah Mundt and Emilee Heinke. Pickering and Edwards will likely only set in the back-row, formulating a 6-2 offense and giving his team the best block he can all the around the rotation.
“I don’t think either one of my setters have the size to stay in the front row,” Parks said. “Last year Emilee was big enough she could stay front row, she was 5-11. Plus I have more offense, more hitters off the bench.”
Defensively, Lorissa Parks — one of five juniors and 10 upperclassmen total — is back to man the passing and defense for the Bobcats. Parks finished third in the Northern Section in digs, averaging 5.3 per set for a total 581 last year.
Paradise will be on the road until its Sept. 27 league and home-opener with Oroville, one of only five home games for Paradise all scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., instead of 7 p.m. Senior day is set for Oct. 25 in the finale of a home-and-home with Corning.
For the latest on the Bobcats, connect with @jtlarson and @Post_RickSilva on Twitter.
