Kianna Liggs tallied 14 kills and Emma Long played a terrific all-around match as the Vikings swept their third opponent in the last four matches

SARATOGA – Viking volleyball has rebounded tremendously after a tough start to the season. Sam Crosson's squad, which opened the season winless through five tries, has now swept three of its last four opponents, doing so most recently against the College of Marin. They took set one 25-18, nearly matched it in a 25-19 set two, and stayed consistent by finishing the sweep, 25-18.

West Valley (4-7) has now hit over .200 as a team in each of the last three matches, the first time the Vikings have done so this year. Offensive efficiency was one of the main themes of their terrific conference season in 2024, but with so many new faces, it became hard to keep that consistency.

That will likely come naturally as the season rolls on, but for now, head coach Sam Crosson's toughest task is to find a way to integrate middle blockers into the rotation – almost a cheat-code for offensive efficiency.

"[We've been] working a little but more on setting middles in serve-receive," said Crosson, "and it showed up a little here. We're making some progress."

Without a middle blocker listed on the roster, the Vikings have resorted to much of their net-defensive production coming from Emmy Juarez. She stayed as the primary middle against the Mariners (5-7), finishing with two blocks and four kills. Juarez, who has the ability to be a six-rotation player, gave way to Aaliyah Osifo, who added a block of her own.

"Both of them that are playing middle don't have that much experience," said Crosson. "They're doing a nice job of filling in for us right now, helping in areas that they can."

"Helping in areas they can" – it's a cliché in sports, but one that's spoken for a reason. Whether it be due to injury, or roster churn, or even just inconsistency, the way the roster is "scheduled" to spend its season is, more often than not, extremely different from how it ends the season.

Sophomore libero Rachel Sanchez has been unavailable since the early-season Delta Classic, and West Valley has similarly had to resort to other areas to fill her presence – both on and off the court.

"Losing Rachel at the Delta Classic," said Crosson, "that's a big cog to us – consistency, she's really good, she's a sophomore voice that has experience for all the young'uns out there."

One of those, freshman outside hitter Emma Long, had one of her best games of the season while wearing the libero jersey during the first two sets. Long had been on the rise as a floor-defender, nearing 3.5 digs per set since the first two matches of the season, but she hit a season-high .455 while picking up five kills against the Mariners.

But most importantly, Long added a team-high 14 digs and, when asked to switch positions in the third set to give the Vikings another look at the libero spot, did so seamlessly.

"We moved Emma, initially, to that spot, and she played the first two sets tonight at libero," said Crosson. "That puts us into a couple of options for lineups. And then we wanted to try, just to see what it would look like, moving [outside hitter Ava Aviles] to the [opposite position], Emma to the outside and going with Kyra [Bito] at libero. We're trying to just move people around, and Emma looks like she's been doing a nice job with it. She just got excited in the last one, it's like 'oh, she can hit as well', so we may be looking at that as a possibility."

She finished third on the team in kills behind Aviles, who had 11 and Kianna Liggs, who finished with 14. It's just another day in the office for Liggs, who has taken collegiate volleyball by storm and is on pace to be the fifth-straight Viking to lead the conference in kills. Ironically, Liggs was a middle blocker in high school, but has moved to the outside, aiming to take advantage of her six-foot frame and missile of a right arm.

"She's got high aspirations, which is awesome," said Crosson. "I think we're just kind of scratching the surface now, and I'm excited about where she could be by the end of this year, and by the time she's done here."

Crosson also made sure to shout out sophomore Sianna Tautolo, a setter who has moved in-and-out of a defensive-specialist/libero role and is settling into a groove as the season continues.

"Her progress is noticeable, and she's constantly a voice in terms of leadership and as a competitive sparkplug. She's doing a great job in whatever she's asked, I'm very pleased with her."

West Valley plays again next Friday, taking on Clovis Community College, with first-serve set for 6:00 PM.