Who: 16 teams competing for the NWAC title
When: Thursday through Saturday.
Where: Tacoma Convention Center.
Clark’s opener: Penguins vs. Linn-Benton, 2 p.m. Thursday.
The Clark College volleyball team won three times in its first 15 matches this season.
But that start just might work to the Penguins advantage this week at the Northwest Athletic Conference tournament in Tacoma.
“We’re so close now. (opponents) have another thing coming,” said sophomore Jazmyn Boyd-Clark. “Just wait. They haven’t seen us yet.”
This certainly isn’t the same Clark team that struggled to find success early in the season. Since that challenging start, the Penguins have gone 15-5 and finished 10-4 to finish third in the West Region to qualify for the conference tournament.
Improved team chemistry and better connections between passers and setters and between setters and hitters were critical to the turnaround, according to middle blocker Vanessa Muckerheide.
Who: 16 teams competing for the NWAC title
When: Thursday through Saturday.
Where: Tacoma Convention Center.
Clark's opener: Penguins vs. Linn-Benton, 2 p.m. Thursday.
A sophomore middle blocker, Muckerheide is a Union High School graduate on a roster that includes six players from Clark County
Muckerheide is a first-team all-West Region selection. Janessa Mast, a freshman outside hitter from Hillsboro, was second-team all-West Region, and freshman Meghan Turner earned honorable mention. Boyd-Clark and Muckerheide were selected to play in Sunday’s all-star game.
Mark Dunn, the second-year coach for the Penguins, said the players were too focused on pleasing him early in the season instead of enjoying the competition.
“They decided to start playing for one another and went on a 14-3 run,” Dunn said. “It was fun to see them play for each other and to play to represent Clark College.”
Prior to taking on the Clark job, Dunn was an assistant volleyball coach at Pacific University in Forest Grove. In 2010, he coached the men’s volleyball team at Sonoma State — a club program — to the National Collegiate Volleyball Foundation’s Division II national championship.
To build Clark into a program that can consistently compete with the best teams in the NWAC, Dunn said he looks for potential players when traveling to national showcase tournaments in his role as a coach for Athena Volleyball Club. His focus, he said, is on finding players from the Vancouver-Portland area.
“The biggest thing that I look for is competitive athletes, girls who are willing to compete every day and put the work win in practice,” Dunn said.
Muckerheide said these Penguins are prepared to finish strong.
“I have high expectations and high hopes for us,” she said. “I think we can peak at the right time and play all out.”
