Coming off of an appearance in the North Coast Section Division 4 playoffs, the Piedmont High School girls volleyball team is looking forward to building on that success.
Mike Glass and Jason Mongue are taking over the coaching duties and will bring familiarity. Glass was the head boys volleyball coach in the Spring and Mongue was the beach volleyball coach. Plus, there is a strong core of returning players.
“We definitely have a good strong roster,” Glass said. “There’s a lot of talent. There are some juniors that are returning players that give us a core of stars we can lean on. We’re a little undersized and we play in a competitive league. They made NCS last year and we hope to build on that.”
Junior Allyson Huynh will move to Libero, which Glass called her natural position. “She’ll be making the team more scrappy and competitive at all times,” Glass said.
Junior Olivia Stevens will move to outside hitter. “She was the Libero last year so she brings that defensive mindset and strong passing to the position,” Glass said.
Junior Maika Ting will also hit. “She was a starting outside hitter last year,” Glass said. “Very strong all-around player.”
“We don’t have that 6-foot, 6-1 outside hitter who can hit over a block. We are going to have to play smart,” Glass said.
Three players will set: Sophomore Carina Vora, senior Nora Trombi and junior Mia Bechtel. Charlotte Bailey is the only freshman on varsity. “She’s still early in her volleyball career,” Glass said. “(She has a) high ceiling. We’re
expecting big things over the years.”
Nora Trombi 
Carina Vora
Juniors Izara Dando (opposite hitter) and Lucia Dorsey (middle blocker) are back from last year’s squad. Another junior, Sophia Meyer will see action as well. “She’s just an extremely strong and powerful hitter,” Glass said. “She’s splitting reps at outside hitter. We’re hopeful that she can continue to grow as a player and anchor some of
our offense.”
Opposite hitter Fiona Olsen is the other senior on the roster. Sophomore Hazel Schaeffer is a defensive specialist. “I think we’re excited and we’re cautiously optimistic,” Glass said. “We play in a tough league. Playing Berkeley and
Castro Valley and Bishop O’Dowd. The team has high hopes of making NCS but we’ll see on the court.”
Izara Dando 
Lucia Dorsey
Glass said the offense playing at a high level will be a key. “We expect to have solid ball control, we expect to have good serve-receive, we expect to have good defense and keep plays alive. The question is can we translate that into offense.”
The Highlanders opened the season with a tight match at home against Berean Christian on Aug. 20 with the Eagles coming away with a 12-25, 25-23, 26-24, 23-25, 15-12 victory.
Piedmont will compete at a tournament in Stockton on Aug. 22 and will host Albany on Aug. 25.