Rams Volleyball Looking To Make Back-To-Back State Championships

The 2016 season was an amazing success for the Fresno City College women’s volleyball that saw the team finish the year with an overall record of 30-1 and captured the college’s first-ever state championship.

The 2017 squad looks poised to duplicate the success of the previous year and with their first game against Foothill College at the American River Classic on Sept. 1 at 3 p.m., the team seems eager to get the ball rolling.

Head Coach Kieran Roblee, who was named Norcal Coach of the Year in her first season with FCC, is prepared for a season that will see a new squad and a few returning stars.

Going into each season, Coach Roblee sets high expectations for her team. With the expectations even higher coming off of last season, they are ready to take on the challenge to get back to where they were a year ago. Even with being dealt the task of incorporating a bunch of fresh faces to the line-up, Roblee feels that there are no weak links on this roster.

“We have four players returning from our state championship team that helped contribute, and we’re excited for our freshman group,” Roblee said.

Coach Roblee feels her team is more than ready to have a successful year and already seems to have a prepared mindset when it comes to talent level.

“We’re not taking any steps back,” she added. “We’re still moving forward from where we were last year in terms of talent level.”

Now that All-State middle blocker Kylei O’Keefe and numerous others have moved on to have college careers elsewhere, Coach Roblee is now counting on key players like Alley Cooper and Makayla Cervantes to step up not only in on-court roles, but in leadership roles as well.

“Cervantes will be one of our go-to players,” Roblee stated. “Cooper helped us to a state championship and I am really looking for to her leadership this year.”

Cooper feels the strength of the team comes from familiarity between teammates, which she attributes to many of the players coming from schools nestled in the Central Valley.

“We’re all from the Valley and that’s cool because some of our girls have played together,” said Cooper. “That goes a long way with the comfort of our team.”

With the much anticipated season on the horizon it should be exciting to see whether or not the FCC women’s volleyball team can duplicate the success they achieved last season and cap off the year with back-to-back state titles.