Coming to coach Tahoma’s volleyball team after seven years at Renton High made sense for Sally Eager.
Her daughter is a freshman at Tahoma High, her older son is a senior, and despite the strides she made at Renton it seemed the perfect opportunity for Eager to be around to watch her own children play sports.
“One of the primary reasons was I wanted to be closer to where my kids are playing,” she said. “Tahoma is a great school. It’s a good program and I’d like to see what we can do.”
After winning just a handful of matches last year, Eager said, her team is hungry. There are eight seniors and eight juniors who want to get to the playoffs after missing out last year.
She’ll look to senior Maria Bahlenhorst at outside hitter to lead the team.
Robin Hwang has the unenviable task of filling the shoes of four-year starter MacKenzie Cles, who served as the setter and quarterback on the court for the Bears.
Eager said she will also expect freshman Rochelle Fritz, a club player listed at 5 feet 9, to come in and make an impact on varsity immediately at middle and outside hitter because she brings solid skills and “she has good hops.”
“The girls are pretty excited about the season,” Eager said. “With eight seniors, they want to finish their high school career off with wins. When you have a big concentration of seniors they’re definitely motivated to win. They want to go out with a bang.”
Play starts Sept. 15 and league matches begin the following week so Eager said she has plenty of time to get to know her team and work on building the skills they have as many of them play club volleyball.
Eager will have a chance to try out some various setups at a tournament Sept. 12 at Auburn Mountainview.
“It’s more fine tuning than I’m used to so it’s been quite interesting,” she said. “They have competitive practices.”
So far, after a little more than a week with the team, Eager is optimistic about her new squad.
“I think we’re going to look good this year, I’m excited about it,” she said. “It’s hard to know how we’re going to match up when it comes to crunch time but I’m still excited right now.”
Reach Kris Hill at khill@maplevalleyreporter.com or (425)432-1209 ext. 5054.
