By Jim Richards
A one-win conference season a year ago and a poor start this season are all in the rear-view mirror for the SMCC volleyball team.
The real excitement begins this week as the ACCAC playoff season begins and the Cougars are right in the middle of it for the first time in 10 years.
Despite an 0-5 start in the ACCAC, the Cougars rallied to a 9-9 finish and the third seed in the double-elimination NJCAA Region I Division II tournament this Thursday. The Cougars will open tournament play Thursday night at host Phoenix College against second-seeded and No.10-ranked Glendale CC.
“I thought we could compete for a good, solid middle-of-the-pack standing which is where we’re at right now,” SMCC’s second-year coach Pat Mooney said. “I didn’t expect it to go the way it did. I mean we started out 0-5 in the conference then all of a sudden we won a five-game match at Chandler and we’re 10-8.”
Mooney feels that his club turned its season around during the Scottsdale Classic six weeks ago. SMCC held its own with three victories in the prestigious tournament that is loaded with top out-of-state talent and many of the top-ranked teams at DI and DII. Mooney pointed to a straight-games’ victory over Florida CC, the current No.17 team in the NJCAA D-I rankings.
“That gave us a shot in the arm,” Mooney said.
The Cougars dropped their next game to powerful and No.4-ranked Phoenix College but returned to the court to defeat defending national runner-up Chandler-Gilbert. It was the first of two times it defeated CGCC this season, the second time coming last Wednesday, which clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 1997.
Sophomore outside hitter Brittany Smith-Peterson leads the ACCAC in kills per game with an average of 4.27. Smith-Peterson was the ACCAC’s DII Player of the Week for the week of Oct.7, one week after setter Katie Collins won the award.
"(Smith-Peterson) has been a big part of our success this season and has developed into more of an all-around player,” Mooney said. “Combined with her powerful hitting, her defense and passing has improved to where she's a player that other teams have to prepare for. Last year she made All Conference Honorable Mention instead of higher where we both thought she should have been and that stung a little bit. So while keeping the teams goals in mind, she's using that for a motivator this year.”
While it was tough to reach the four-team playoff this season, to get to nationals will be even tougher. For starters, Collins –the ACCAC’s runner-up in assists per game with an average of 10.52-- injured an ankle in the final week and her playing status won’t be known until just about playoff time. With the injury, Mooney is concerned about a change in chemistry within the team.
“When you adjust your chemistry, there are issues that some of the girls will think about,” he said. “Anytime you put a different lineup out there you add different chemistry to what’s been working.”
The Cougars have a 2-4 record this season against the playoff teams. They split with Glendale and Scottsdale and fell to Phoenix College twice.
“I’m absolutely thrilled with our season so far, but we’ve still got some work to do,” Mooney said. “I’m very confident that we can play with the people that are going to be at regionals.”