By Gail Wood
Natalie Zukowski had reasons to doubt.
The Capital volleyball coach had only one returning starter off a team that had reached state for the second year in a row.
She had no reason to be optimistic. But she was.
With Kristina Ablson making a seamless transition to setter and with two freshman surprisingly making the starting lineup, Capital has completely bypassed the rebuilding stage. The Cougars, winners of 12 straight, are the 3A Narrows League champs, going undefeated in 10 league league matches.
“I knew we were going to be young and inexperienced,” Zukowski said. “But I knew we had talent. I was definitely optimistic because we always have a competitive program.”
Just not one that’s so young. For the first time Zukowski is carrying five freshmen on the varsity team, with four of them playing regularly. Marissa Ottesen and Rachel Erickson both start as freshman. Zukowski has never carried more than one freshman on the varsity in her eight years as the Cougars head coach.
“I knew we were going to need time to grow and improve,” Zukowski said.
And improve they did.
Ablson, a senior, has been a pleasant surprise. Last year, she was a backup player who came in to serve. She set a little and hadn’t been a full-time setter since her sophomore year on junior varsity. But with her take-charge approach, Ablson has exceeding expectations.
“She’s done great,” Zukowski said. “She’s embraced the role of leading the team, telling them what they’re going to do. I was confident she could. She’s the type of kid everyone respects and looks up to.”
Dani Tabor, a strong outside hitter, was Zukowski’s only returning starter. Eight seniors graduated off last year’s team. Only four players returned off that team and Tabor was the only one who played a lot. Still, after losses to Black Hills and Olympia to start the season, Capital was undefeated going into the league tournament, finishing 10-0 in league and 12-2 overall. The Cougars are ranked seventh in state.
Yet Capital is young. Zukowski’s other starters are Haley Vick, a junior, and Drew Rothengass, a sophomore. Alternating at middle hitter are juniors Samatia Huntley and Naomi Roycroft. Ottesen, while only a freshman, is the starting libero.
“It’s really a talented freshman class,” Zukowski said.
Despite their youth, the Cougars, who have four players at 6 feet, are a power team.
“We have a big, physical team,” Zukowski said. “We definitely have a tall team. We’ve gotten better with the block.”
But rather than relying just on one-shot wins, Zukowski has been drilling her team’s defense and working on being a team that can stay in long rallies.
Throughout the season, the Capital coach has also drilled her team on serving. After missing on 17 serves in a season-opening loss to Black Hills, Zukowski knew her team needed to get better at serving.
“We’ve definitely gotten more confident in our serving,” Zukowski said. “Now, we actually have some strong servers. We work hard on serving.”
For the first time in Zukowski’s eight seasons as head coach, her team swept rival Timberline, beating them twice in the season. But it wasn’t easy. Both matches were nail biters. In the last match, Capital won the fifth-and-deciding game 15-13.
After the match, Zukowski did give Timberline coach Krista Manke a friendly handshake. There was no repeat the Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz encounter where the two NFL coaches fumed during a post-game handshake.
“We’re actually good friends,” Zukowski said with a chuckle. “We like each other.”
Zukowski is no stranger to Capital volleyball. She’s a Coug grad. Zukowski played for the state volleyball championship in 1994 and lost to Selah.
As head coach, her teams have been to state twice and she’s hoping they get back there this year. The district playoffs are Nov. 4-5 at Auburn Mountainview High School and the top six teams advance to state.
With four ranked teams in the tournament, Zukowski knows it’s not going to be easy to advance. Beside Capital, Prairie, Bonney Lake and Auburn Mountainview are all ranked. Mount Spokane is ranked No. 1 in the state. Timberline, which finished 10-4 overall and 8-2 in league, also has a shot at advancing to state.
“It’s the most competitive district in the state,” Zukowski said.
