By MARTY JAMES

martyjames.sports@gmail.com

The volleyball season for Napa Valley College begins on Saturday with the Storm playing two matches at Santa Rosa Junior College's Haehl Pavilion.

Napa Valley will first face Taft College at 2 p.m.

The Storm takes on Santa Rosa at 4 p.m.

There are eight nonconference matches that Napa Valley will be playing in during August and September.

"We've got a new squad, a new team, and looking to build on last year's momentum," Storm head coach Scott Bishop said at Thursday's late-afternoon practice. "But we also realize we have a long preseason. We have about six weeks' worth of preseason before we start conference, so plenty of time to kind of slow things down, get some good habits, establish some momentum for our team chemistry.

"Sure, we're competing on Saturday, but we're going to do some things to help prepare some lineups. I really tried to emphasize for the team not to feel rushed in feeling like they have to have their performance up to what they were hoping for the first week."

This is the first week of the 2025 season for Napa Valley. Practices began on Monday.

Before getting on the court in the NVC gym on Thursday, players warmed up in a dance room downstairs.

"We did some arm health, some good body health, just to add a little more creativity to some of our practices," said Bishop. "We're kind of mixing things up a little bit. We had some bands that we were working on the shoulders. We got our warm-up, and got some good ball control."

The focus points of the week, said Bishop, have been centered around ball control, good effort, good energy, and taking time for everyone to get to know each other.

Napa Valley goes into the season with nine players on its roster.

Caitlin Kenney, a returning sophomore middle blocker/right side hitter, and Adelina Avila-Navarro, a returning sophomore libero/defensive specialist, are the team's co-captains.

Kenney played in 22 matches and had 50 kills, 25 digs, eight blocks, six service aces and 61 points last year.

Avila-Navarro played in 21 matches and had 193 digs, 13 service aces and 13 points last year.

Also, returning for Napa Valley are four more sophomores.

* Rylee Santos, a setter, had 171 set assists, 155 digs, 26 service aces and 34 points in 22 matches last year.

* Willow Diamond, a middle blocker/right side hitter, had 35 kills, 12 service aces and 47.5 points in 22 matches last year.

* Sydnee Coulthrust, a setter, had 112 set assists, six kills, 64 digs, 20 points and 14 service aces in 21 matches last year.

* Ava Pendelton, an outside hitter/defensive specialist, had 20 kills, 88 digs, seven service aces and 27 points in 22 matches last year.

"It's great having our sophomores. All of our sophomores have improved and shown some consistency from where they left off from last year," said Bishop.

Santos was named to the All-Bay Valley Conference team for Napa Valley last year. Santos was named honorable mention at the setter position.

"There's a lot of excitement in the air to begin the season. We've been trying to channel that into connecting with each other. And they've been doing a really nice job of that, doing a lot of unscripted team bonding on their own, at their own initiative. So, I've been proud of them for that," said Bishop.

Thursday was NVC's fourth practice session of the season.

Napa Valley will also face Sacramento City College, De Anza College-Cupertino, Monterey Peninsula College, College of the Siskiyious-Weed and Butte College-Oroville in nonconference matches.

"Definitely, we're excited for what our preseason can teach us and are looking forward to the challenges, getting everything where we would like them to head into conference," said Bishop.

"I think the goal of playing strong opponents early in the season is to get a very good glimpse on what you need to work on and kind of measure yourself up there.

"So, focus is going to be mainly on our side of the net and what we're doing and trying to just implement all our good habits from we've been doing at practice this week. How do we keep communicating. How do we come together quickly after every point. How do we keep encouraging each other. Because those are super important to get established early as well."

NVC's freshman class consists of three incoming players:

* America Hernandez, libero/defensive specialist.

* Keana Resultay, defensive specialist/outside hitter.

* Aly Watty, setter.

"Our freshmen are excited to get out there and compete," said Bishop. "Our freshmen are pretty athletic and exciting to watch as well. So, I think all of them are going to be able to have a pretty great impact."

Bishop said the roster is a little smaller than he would like.

"It just means we're going to have opportunities to be a closer-knit family kind of with that. Lots of touches, lots of impact for every player out there. I think everyone's on board with that," he said.

"I think everyone is looking forward to just touching the ball and getting more reps. I think everyone's hungry, which is a great place to be, to learn and grow."

The Bay Valley Conference season for Napa Valley begins on October 1.

Bishop led an all-freshman NVC (10-14 overall, 5-5 Bay Valley Conference) team to a tie for third place in the conference standings last year.

"Last year, we had an all-freshman team, so we kind of had to reinvent the wheel for how we would like to do things from scratch, which was a good, fun challenge," said Bishop. "This year, we're taking advantage, that we have some returning sophomores and can have some experience from last year, mixed in with our freshman.

"We definitely have players that contributed last year, and are going to be doing a great job this year as well."

* Marty James is a freelance writer who makes his home in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019 after spending 40 years as a sports writer, sports editor and executive sports editor for the Napa Valley Register, a daily newspaper in Napa County. He is a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016, the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.