Erica Menzel Downing took a break from coaching girls volleyball at San Marcos after eight seasons in the 2016.
She’s returned to the program at her alma mater and learned in Tuesday’s season opener that opponent Arroyo Grande still plays as scrappy as it did when she was suiting up for the Royals in the late 1990s.
After a blowout first-set win, San Marcos found itself in a battle for the rest of the night. The Royals pulled through against the spunky Eagles in four sets (25-11, 25-20, 23-25, 25-21) to make Downing a winner in her return to the bench at the Thunderhut.
“Ever since I’ve played them, they have always been super scrappy,” said Downing of the Eagles. “But we just had a little bit of a let down (after the first set). It’s the first game of the season, it’s going to happen. I pushed them a little bit. They haven’t played three games, they haven’t played four games (against an opponent) so the fatigue, the brain fog, all those kind of things kind of come into play. So it’s good to push them a little bit to see what they can do and how they can battle back.”
Charlotte Hastings led the Royals with a double-double of 11 kills and 19 digs. Cora Loomer put away nine kills and added five blocks, Reese Paskin collected seven kills, Gracie Stone had six and Sam Fallon added five to go with five blocks.
Libero Alina Stapf led the defense with 21 digs and setter Lila Westmacott handed out 29 assists and served three aces.
With her sons Austin and Blake in high school and middle school, respectively, Downing felt the time was right in her life to return to coaching high school volleyball. She’s having a lot of fun working with the players and her coaching staff.
Tina Brown, who with Dwayne Hauschild co-coached the team after Downing stepped down in 2016, is on her staff along with two of Downing’s former players, Kristen Berlo and Carly Yarnell; Jenna McFarlane, the 2017 Channel League MVP from San Marcos, and former Westmont coach Jesse Wheeler, who is the JV coach, round out the staff.
“We have, like, a really great staff, and that really helps, because I can lean on them to get different ideas,” said Downing. “Tina knows the girls from prior years, but I think it’s nice to have new eyes and different people to look at different things.”
Downing also has the luxury of having a senior-heavy team for her first year back.
“And they’re all really good, so they’re all going to contribute at some point during the season. And I think that they’re all really close, so that’s really beneficial too,” she said.
So, even though she’s been through a coaching debut before, was Downing nervous about Tuesday’s opener?
“I was a little nervous, only because I want to be the best I can be for (the players),” she said. “And, I’ve been out of it for so long that I had to kind of pull the cobwebs out of there and that. But that’s the beauty of having such a great coaching staff. Whatever I don’t see, they can tell me whether I want to do it or not.”
She said when she got up on a box to hit balls at the players for digging practice and didn’t have a sore arm the next day, she knew she was ready and able to coach again.
“It’s fun. I love San Marcos. My kids are here and my parents are here. It’s just a great community. I was at the point where I could help, so I came back.”