TPHS Girls Volleyball

By Alexa Lomberg, TPHS…

With a new head coach, a new team motto and a new set of senior leaders, the Torrey Pines High School Girls Volleyball Team is ready for a new result in CIF play—a championship banner to bring home.   The four seniors for TPHS – Kelsey Moore, Gigi Cresto, Sam Trunkett, and Karly Drolson  (pictured left to right), are all multi-year varsity players entering their last round of Avocado League play as a Falcon.

With an overall 9-4 record, the Falcons are 2-0 in league play, coming off recent wins over Rancho Bernardo High School and Mt. Carmel High School.  Stomping over both schools in quick 3-0 wins, the team’s losses to rivals Cathedral Catholic and La Costa Canyon early in the season are now simply motivation to dominate in league play.  According to Cresto, Poway High School looks to be the next biggest threat during league play, but the team is primarily concerned with excelling once CIF tournament play has begun.

Other than seniors, returning starters include underclassmen Reily Buechler (6’2”), Ryann Chandler (5’11”), Maddy Kerr (5’6”) and Madison Dutra (5’11”). The team’s depth in every position goes without doubt; Buechler is committed to UCLA and Kerr to UC Berkeley.

TPVB is currently ranked 11th in the state and 32nd in the nation, according to MaxPreps.com. With plenty of firepower within the upper and under class, the Falcons’ successes look to have no endpoint in sight.

• Favorite local restaurant and what do you order? Del Mar Pizza- Chopped Salad with Chicken and Avocado
• Greatest sports memory? Winning gold medal in USA High Performance
• Do you want to play in college? Yes! Will be playing for UCLA Bruins.  Just had my official visit last weekend.  It was awesome!
• Favorite spot to vacation? Someday it will be Hawaii.  I have never been but love the ocean—most trips so far have been sports related with me and my sister.
• Future career? Sports broadcasting
• If you could start high school over what would you do different? Take more AP classes to get me ready for UCLA.
• Do you play on a club team? If so, what organization? Yes, I play club at Wave Volleyball Club in Del Mar.

• Favorite local restaurant and what do you order? Station Sushi—Fantasy Roll
• Greatest sports memory? Winning So-Cal Junior Olympic Qualifiers
• Favorite spot to vacation? Europe, especially Italy, and Hawaii
• Future career? Something in international relations (maybe law)
• What’s the best thing about your sport? Competition, fun, exciting, can play at the beach, high level of play
• If you could start high school over what would you do different? I wouldn’t change anything.
• Favorite thing to do when you are not playing sports? Go to dinner, go to the beach, travel, hang out with friends
• Do you play on a club team? If so, what organization? Yes, Wave Volleyball Club
• Greatest sports accomplishment? Getting a scholarship to UCLA for volleyball

• Favorite local restaurant and what do you order? Niban—spicy tuna hand roll and rainbow roll
• Greatest sports memory? Beating Puerto Rico in finals of 2011 Pacific NW Junior National Qualifier in Baltimore, MD
• Do you want to play in college? Scholarship to University of Utah
• Future career? Want to be a doctor—sports medicine or surgery, or neo-natal surgeon
• What’s the best thing about your sport? The feeling when the ball hits my hand for such a short amount of time and leaves in a flash.  Setting and feeling the ball, having everything slow down and working to get my hitters a one on one situation
• If you could start high school over what would you do different? Wouldn’t change anything—each mistake has been a learning experience and today I’m better because of them, but if I had to I would have taken AP Bio and emphasized science.
• Do you play on a club team? If so, what organization? Wave Volleyball Club, Del Mar