Dwight Crump is entering his 10th season running the Hillsdale volleyball program, but it’s sure going to be tough to top his ninth.
Dwight Crump
The reigning Northern California Division I champion Lady Knights graduated a core contingent from their historic run in 2021. While Hillsdale has eight returning players, many of them didn’t get regular reps last season behind the likes of Jessica Dean and Victoria Vanos, who shared Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division Most Valuable Player honors in leading the team to the CIF State Girls’ Volleyball Championships.
Hillsdale made a little more history rolling into the new season, serving as co-hosts of the First Annual Peninsula Classic Tournament. The 18-team tourney was hosted at Hillsdale and Burlingame, and saw the Knights advance to the championship match where they fell to Marin Catholic-Kentfield 25-10, 25-17.
“When you lose core and bring in core, your chemistry starts off slow,” Crump said. “But since many of these girls played for this championship team last year, they know what the expectation is. They know how to execute. But once they got in their groove, they were on all cylinders. … It was actually a smooth transition from last year.”
Senior setter Rianna Liu has been key in navigating Hillsdale’s early success. Last season, Liu worked a part of a setter tandem in the Knights’ 6-2 offense and earned All-PAL second-team honors. This year, the senior has stepped up to run a 5-1 as the team’s lone setter. And she has quickly set the tone, connecting with co-captains Allison Khau, a sophomore libero, and Vivian Gilbert, a senior middle.
“She was amazing,” Crump said of Liu’s performance through five tournament matches Saturday. “She had fantastic sets, she was clicking on all cylinders with the hitters, she had some amazing setter dunks. We ran the 5-1 so she was up in the front row blocking too. She had a number of service aces. She is our captain this year and she was a true leader.”
The Peninsula Classic Tournament featured five PAL teams, including Burlingame, Westmoor, Jefferson and San Mateo. Burlingame took third place, with Soquel taking fourth; Branham-San Jose fifth; Notre Dame-Salinas sixth; and Lowell-SF seventh.
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A sister connection between Hillsdale’s junior-varsity coach Darlene Tran and new Burlingame varsity head coach Nga Tran helped expedite the co-hosted tournament.
“We wanted one that kind of drew in high-level talent but also drew in the Peninsula schools that can’t afford to go to Milpitas (for Spikefest) or far away,” Crump said. “So, we wanted to give them something quality for their first tournament of the year.”
Hillsdale is top loading its schedule with some heavy hitters. Last Friday’s season opener pitted two recent Nor Cal champions, with 2021 Division I Nor Cal champ Hillsdale defeating 2019 Division III state champ Lowell 25-19, 25-11, 22-25, 25-23. This week, the Knights travel Wednesday to Salinas, a Nor Cal Division I second-round qualifier last year, before traveling Thursday to Valley Christian-San Jose.
“So, our true test comes Wednesday and Thursday,” Crump said.
Hillsdale is relying on some new talent this year. Senior outside hitter Ashley Driscoll was a regular rotation player last season but has moved into a starting role to pair with sophomore Natasha Abbaszadeh. Senior pin hitter Rachel Reed, listing as a 6-1 senior, is the hardest hitter on the team. And 6-4 senior Ella Jensen is slated to patrol the middle.
“The team we had last year was amazing,” Crump said. “It really helped our lower class kids to show that drive to go to the state championship, and it helped them get better this year. Because they didn’t play last year, they were watching.
“It’s carried over to these girls this year because they feel that drive,” Crump said. “And it showed this weekend in the tournament.”
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