GLENDALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL PREVIEW:

GLENDALE — For the Glendale Community College women’s volleyball team, the 2007 season showed signs of stability for the program, but there was also some regression for the freshman-dominated squad.

While the team equaled its season total of six wins from 2006, the Vaqueros took a step back in Western State Conference play, winning two fewer matches than the previous year to finish 0-10.

“I think that the girls understand what we’re trying to do with our program, that we’re trying to be competitive with everyone that’s in our conference,” said Glendale college Coach Yvette Ybarra, who will begin the sixth year of her coaching tenure when the team kicks off its season at home today against Antelope Valley College. “Our conference being one of the toughest in the state, we have our hands full every time we step onto the court.

“This team really is gung-ho, just ready to go and to be competitive and I think we’re a little more athletic than we were last year and that helps out a great deal.”

Also figuring to help the Vaqueros maintain some consistency are the four returning sophomores, twice as many as last year’s squad had.

Outside hitter Aya Nakano and middle blocker Isabelle Carter out of Hoover High were 2007 all-conference selections.

Another former Tornado, Anne Figueroa, is back and in the running to reprise her starting libero role, while Bellarmine-Jefferson graduate Nicole Diller will make the move from the right side to replace all-conference second team selection Autumn Gomez at setter.

“We’re really coming together as a team,” said Carter, who is a tri-captain along with Nakano and Diller. “We work well on and off the court and we all have a lot of potential.”

Ybarra forecasts the passing game to be a primary strength for this year’s team.

“That’s where we’ve struggled a lot in the past,” Ybarra said. “It’s nice that we have some passers back there to really take charge of the court and it’s helping our attack.”

The Vaqueros do have a sizable hole to fill on their front line, however, in departed middle blocker Susie Marco. The former Flintridge Prep standout was an all-conference second-team selection last year and the vocal leader of the team.

There are several players who will attempt to fill Marco’s shoes up front. Aside from Nakano and Carter, the additions of Ashliy Veliz and Carissa Mathijssen give Ybarra some attacking options.

“[Mathijssen] is not a big hitter, but she’s a very smart hitter and Isabelle in the middle has improved tremendously,” Ybarra said. “[Veliz] is a very strong hitter and she’s very athletic so I will be looking to her [for offense].

“She’ll be opposite, so it’s nice to have a more diverse offense. Normally, we’ve had to rely on one or two positions and now we’re kind of equal.”

Repeating a good start — the Vaqueros won six of their first seven matches to open 2007 — is the first step. But the real measure of improvement for this squad will be its ability to sustain momentum once conference play begins Oct. 7 against L.A. Pierce College.

“We have to be consistent,” Ybarra said. “I think that’s one of the things that we didn’t do very well last year — we would come into a game and play really well and the next game we would look like a completely different team.

“One of the things I’ve been working really hard on with this team is to gain some type of consistency and hopefully that will help us a little more this year.”

 GABRIEL RIZK covers sports. He can be reached at (818) 637-3226 or at gabriel.rizk@latimes.com.