Olivia Starks and Lori Cimmiyotti earned first-team honors, Morgan Goslin was named to the second team and first-year coach Neticia Fanene added a Coach of the Year award to her trophy case to cap the 2014 Columbia River Conference season for The Dalles Riverhawks.
“Each of these players is very deserving of these honors,” Fanene said.
For Starks, the senior middle blocker won league recognition in every year of eligibility, capping her final two seasons on the first team.
In her ninth-grade year, Starks the first The Dalles freshman since the Intermountain and CRC Conference were established to earn at least second-team status.
This past season, Starks was the Riverhawks’ leading point scorer.
In nine league contests, Starks logged 125 kills, 108 digs and 35 blocks, leading the team in each category.
Against Wilsonville on Oct. 28, Starks had eight kills, three blocks, an ace and seven digs for her final high school stat line.
“Olivia was a captain and she did an exceptional job leading in her play,” Fanene said. “She was a huge part of our offense and I believe she can be very successful at the next level.”
Losing a 6-foot-2 inch presence in the middle can be devastating to some teams, but next year Cimmiyotti (5-10) should slide into a huge versatile role for The Dalles.
In her final two league games of 2014, the junior, who was a second-team pick 2013, averaged eight kills, seven digs and two blocks a match.
In league play, Cimmiyotti finished with 64 kills, 100 digs and 24 blocks.
“Lori had a breakout year both offensively and defensively,” Fanene said. “I have been mostly impressed with her defense and passing game and am excited to have her back again next year.”
This past season, the Riverhawks quadrupled their match win total and doubled their league win total under Fanene.
Of course, Starks and Cimmiyotti could not slam down double digit kills in every match if not for the overall progression and skill set produced by Goslin at her setter slot.
As a team captain and key facilitator on offense, Goslin had 165 assists in nine matches (18.3 a match) and had 53 total digs.
From the service line, Goslin led her team in aces with 14.
In her final match in the playoffs on Oct. 28 versus Wilsonville, Goslin had 11 assists, three aces and three digs.
“She was our best/toughest server, as well as our first setter,” Fanene said. “I appreciated Morgan's leadership. Her competitiveness and team-first attitude is how she earned league honors.”
Fanene appears to have the volleyball program headed in the right direction with a winning formula in place.
The other coaches in the league saw that and had no qualms voting her in as Coach of the Year.
“It is an honor to be named Coach of the Year in our league,” Fanene said. “I am very proud of how every girl performed this season and how much they improved from our first match. I believe that we have set new expectations and have a different mentality and will continue to build off this new beginning.”
The Dalles earned a postseason berth for the first time since 2011 and Fanene has hopes of making the playoffs a yearly occurrence.
Fanene is looking to add open gym sessions and other activities to keep up to par with volleyball fundamentals.
There is a talented core of players in Savannah Bass, Maddy Bradford, Iliana Telles, Lori Cimmiyotti, Sierra Watson, Deysi Velador, Kayla Seibel, Keatin Logue and Jodi Thomasian expected to take the reins.
“We graduated three seniors and will have everyone else back next season,” Fanene said. “We look forward to reconditioning our game plan to our greatest strengths from our returning players.”
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