Season Preview: Coyotes volleyball ready for new season under new coach
In its second season, the Cerro Coso volleyball program finished sixth in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference with a 3-9 record (7-15 overall), ending the year on a high note with a two-game winning streak. The Coyotes go into this upcoming season under new leadership with head coach James Belluscio and assistant coach Michele C. Picozzi.
The new Coyotes coach is no stranger to the game of volleyball as a player and as a coach. He said about his experience, "I started playing volleyball in high school and transferred on to a JUCO my first year out of high school. Had a lot of success in high school, but I started kind of late because in the East Coast volleyball isn't a thing until high school, especially on the men's side of things. I went to JUCO for a year and believed in the model, which is why I am super excited to be here. Needed that year to get my grades up and focus a little bit more, then I transferred to my four-year which is University of Tampa. Played there at the club level and then got into coaching.
"Coached the men's side to start through high school and club, and then when I moved Arizona had the opportunity to take over a program on the women's side. Had a great couple of seasons, had a lot of success, took over for a national club team as well as well as running the program in Arizona. Had some success there and here I am."
After the Coyotes won only seven games last season, which was still an improvement over the previous year's 2-13 campaign, Belluscio wants to introduce a new culture that moves the program forward in hopes of not only winning more games, but also turning the program in a premier JUCO program.
"The culture I want to create is I want this to be a premier stepping stone in JUCO. I think all the really successful JUCOs across the country do a really good job of making sure their athletes come to play volleyball, get better at volleyball, but transfer out to a four-year whether it's through academics or volleyball," he said. "And that was a big part of my pitch to a lot of out-of-state recruits. Found that niche of I need to find girls that are willing to come here and work, and I tell my girls all the time this is a two-year job interview. We are working our butts off to get our grades up so we can transfer out.
"We are also pretty blessed to have a good group of local girls, but changing that culture of only taking local girls to making this a premier JUCO is I think the improvement we have done so far. Bringing in players from Kansas, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, it's just going to bring a new level and expectation for the community to see this program. This isn't a continuation of high school anymore — this is a real college program, and we are dealing with it as such."
With the goal of turning the Coyotes volleyball program into a premier volleyball program, Belluscio understands and has told his players what they are going to try and accomplish in his first season. But he also knows there is going to be plenty of struggles as well.
"First things first, we had a very low GPA in this program the last couple of years. Goal one: we want to go from one of the lowest GPAs to the highest. That is the most important thing for us — we are going to have good grades," he said. "I want my players to know that I am here for them, same with Picozzi, he is here for them. At all hours, we are more than volleyball coaches, we are hopefully their mentors. Many of these kids are moving away from home for the first time. I have mowed my players' grass so far — it's part of the program I am trying to build, and I want them to trust me. Overall expectation, grades are good, hopefully we can get some girls out to the next level, and we want to win. And we think we can win. We have a really good group of girls. They are trickling in this week, its high level, and I would argue it's probably the highest level that the school has seen.
"Getting used to Ridgecrest is going to be a journey. I'm getting used to it. It's a beautiful place, people are extremely nice, but it's a small town. Getting them adjusted and getting used to living on their own is a big part of it. Are they feeding themselves correctly? Are they keeping their house clean? Just learning to be an adult is a big part of this, and I think the workload is going to be a lot. Today, we had two-a-days. There are going to be some days when we are lifting in the morning, going to practice at night, they have classes in between, it's long days, long hours. You really make a lot of sacrifices and have to be good with your time, and that's something I promised throughout the recruitment process, I will help them with the time management side of things. I will help you not only become a successful volleyball player but a successful student athlete."
Cerro Coso has a scrimmage against East Los Angeles College before opening the season with a tri-match against Clovis Community College and Rio Hondo on Aug. 27. The Coyotes have 14 preseason games including competing in three tournaments or tri-matches. Inland Empire Athletic Conference begins with the Coyotes hosting Desert on Oct. 1. Going into the year, Belluscio has set goals for his team for both preseason and conference.
"Let's just build the culture, let's become a team, let's become a family. I want this team to be a family, and we are already doing an excellent job. The girls are already starting to buy in; they are already loving each other. I had a player show up yesterday with balloons for one of the girl's birthday, and they just met a week ago. We want to become a family, work on a lot of strategies, implement some systems so when the season gets full on and running and we have games every week, and they are chugging along in classes, hopefully they are set up and have the tools for success where it will be an easy transition as their workload gets pretty intense," he said.
The Coyotes coach looked at the preseason games and conference games he is looking forward to watching his team compete against.
"Preseason we don't have much, kind of on purpose. We are excited for our first game because we are hosting a tri-match here, the first time in a while we have hosted a tri-match. I did that on purpose. I really want to get fans in here from the beginning because I think fans are so important to any sports team. Especially in a small town like this, any time we have a chance to fill up the gym, let's do it. Tri-match to open against two solid schools, and we are excited for the opportunity to host it," he said.
"Our conference is interesting because it's a big conference. There is a lot of wide ranges of talents, I would say. There are teams that are pretty top heavy and have been dominating for the past couple of years, and those are teams we are chasing, and we are excited to play them."
Though Belluscio is excited for the start of the new season, one thing he, his staff, and his players are hoping is that the community is excited to see a new volleyball program. He wants to bring fans into Cerro Coso Gym to watch the girls play.
"Running the camps throughout the summer and we have a high school camp coming up in the first week of August, which is going to be very instrumental in not only growing the fandom but getting potential recruits in the door," he said. "Me and coach have been to a lot of the open gyms in the local club circuits, we plan to getting into the high school gyms, the two coach's daughters from the club and high school are playing for us now. We want to build up those connections as much as we can, and winning solves everything. It's a lot more fun if we are winning games, a lot more fun for the players, fans, and parents. Just trying to build that culture, trying to get some wins, trying to get some fans in here by being a face with a name out in the community. I feel we are doing a really good job so far of building those connections."
Belluscio is ready and excited for the start of the season and his first with Cerro Coso. He said, "it's really exciting, and what people don't realize and I almost didn't realize is how much work goes into it before the season. Constructing a roster was a whole different animal, and that was the first time I was on recruitment trails as much as I was. I can recruit for club, but it's a completely different thing to convince girls to move here, live off campus, and do all the things. We have been thinking about this roster since December as soon as I was hired and now, we are in July, moving in officially the last couple of weeks. We are really excited, we are really excited to see them all in the gym because we haven't had our full team in the gym together, but it's coming.
"It's exciting times if you follow Cerro Coso sports. The school is in the come up, and I will say it a million times: our AD is a rockstar. He does a really good job of creating the culture of this is a school where you can be a successful student athlete, and hopefully get to a four-year. With the implementation of the school's men's and women's soccer teams and all the new coaches coming in, we have already built a relationship with them. I'm going to be repping Coso going to their games, and hopefully some of their players come to our games. And we create a healthy culture of supporting each other, and if the whole men's and women's soccer teams are in the gym during our tri-match and fans are walking in, it's a whole different environment compared to 10 people the past season."
Eduardo Miranda
The Daily Independent