Monrovia Girls’ Volleyball turning the tide

Finding success on the Monrovia girls’ volleyball team this season have been (left to right) Caroline Mulvihill, Riley Carius, Leilia To’omalatai and Madison Mayoralgo.-Photo by Shel Segal

By SHEL SEGAL
Times have been tough during recent years as the Monrovia High girls’ volleyball team has been battling Rio Hondo League powerhouses, such as La Canada High and San Marino High. But now it looks as though the tide might be turning.
Wayne Teng, coach of the team, said the Wildcats have finished second in Rio Hondo League play the past four years. However, a turning point might have come recently when they defeated La Canada at La Canada in a league match for the first time in anyone’s memory.
“We have seen tremendous improvement of our players because they play all season,” Teng said. “They also join club with me during the offseason for training. So, we’re pretty much 24/7.”
Teng added turning the program around after years of disarray hasn’t been easy. However, he said now the girls are in a position to legitimately compete.
“It’s been very difficult,” he said. “My first goal was to come to a program from the bottom and redevelop it so they would have a chance to win a league title. We haven’t won the league title ever in 80-plus years, so we’re going to give that a try this year.”
Teng said there are some things he wants to teach his players when they’re on the court.
“I believe that our girls have a lot of heart and a lot of emphasis on three things,” he said. “First, is intelligence. Knowing the game. Understanding it and playing very well with it. Two, it’s character and learning the discipline behind the game, learning the character of being a good citizen and sportsmanship. The third thing that is most important is learning how we can work together.”
He added the most difficult thing he had to do was change the girls’ mindset about competing with the other league teams.
“It was hard because while we knew they were very good athletic players we just had the difficulty having the girls have a goal perspective of what they want to do,” Teng said. “They tend to realize that South Pasadena, San Marino and La Canada is going to win all the time. Therefore, let’s not try.”
And just hailing from Monrovia has presented Teng with a unique set of challenges.
“You will find my team, within the Rio Hondo League, we are the most diverse in terms of athletic backgrounds, but also in terms of economic background,” he said.
(Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews.com and followed via Twitter @segallanded).

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