RCHS senior adds "Fear"
to impressive resume

Pete Marshall, Staff Writer
Created: 12/23/2009 09:42:14 PM PST

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - Prior to 2009, Becca Garrigues could be described as many things for the Rancho Cucamonga High School volleyball team.
Talented. Smart. Intense. Feared? Not as much.

That changed in 2009 as the senior outside hitter developed into a heavy hitter for the Cougars, led them to the school's first-ever league title and earned herself Inland Valley Player of the Year honors.

Garrigues becomes the second Inland Valley Player of the Year from Rancho Cucamonga in the 17-year history of the award after Jacqui Jackson (2003).

"I worked out a lot during the summer and so I jumped higher and hit harder," Garrigues said.

"She wasn't the type of player you watched during hitting lines and said `Oh, man,' " Rancho Cucamonga coach Brandon Blevins said. "But she was feared by coaches. They've said to me, `I'm glad Becca's graduating.' They knew how to stop the other girls, but not her.

"I'm just glad I got to watch it."

Garrigues' statistics were impressive: a team-leading 4.8 kills per game (and 469 overall), a 36.2 hitting percentage and a 42.0 kill percentage.

She also was second on the team in digs (471) and second in aces (32).

But statistics told only part of the story for Garrigues, Blevins said.

"She just knows tendencies of other team's players," he said. "And even in matches where she struggled a little bit - sometimes she had a dead arm - she found a way to make the

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play.
"She's got great competitiveness. She won't lose. If you're going to beat her, you'd better do it because she's not going to lose. She has that (Michael) Jordan-esque drive to compete."

"I've always kind of been the behind-the-scenes player," Garrigues said. "I've never been the headline player. I don't know why it began to change. I'm very excited about everything that's happened."

Her statement that she didn't know why it began to change wasn't entirely true. She worked hard in the off season at EM Speed and Power Training in Rancho Cucamonga. She also took more of a vocal leadership role for a program that doesn't have any official team captains.

"As a sophomore, she took a back seat and deferred to seniors," Blevins said. "She will accept whatever role. Her junior and senior year she became more of a leader."

For Garrigues, being a team leader meant focusing on team goals, most importantly winning the Baseline League.

Past Cougars teams had the goal of knocking off perennial league champion Upland but were unable to do so. Upland was young and expected to be down this year, but that didn't leave the Cougars as the overwhelming favorite. There also were high expectations for Los Osos.

It was the first matchup this season with Los Osos that gave Garrigues and her teammates hope.

"We had never beaten them at Osos, they're a very good athletic team and of course, there's the crosstown rivalry," Garrigues said. "We came out our strongest, but we were down in every single game except for the fifth game. That was the game when I thought, `We can do this.'

"I thought I played well ... I don't think I could have played as well if not for the rest of my team. My team makes it so I can."

In that Oct. 8 match, Garrigues had 20 kills in five games. A week later, she set her season high with 23 kills in a four-game match against Upland.

In all, Rancho Cucamonga played Los Osos four times on the season, twice in tournaments and twice in league. Los Osos won the first time, but Rancho Cucamonga won the final three.

Rancho Cucamonga went on to go 10-0 in league and defeated Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills and Arroyo Grande in the CIF-SS Division 1-A playoffs before losing to second-seeded Santa Barbara in the quarterfinals.

"Our team worked so well together," Garrigues said. "If somebody had a bad day, someone else picked them up."

As good as Garrigues was as an outside hitter, she feels her future is as a setter. The 5-foot-10 Garrigues is considered too short to play outside hitter for most Division 1 programs and being left-handed is an asset as a setter.

As this club season begins, Garrigues is one of the two setters, along with Rancho Cucamonga teammate Jessica Posse on Rancho Valley's top 18-and-under team.

Garrigues has a partial scholarship offer from University of Maryland Baltimore County, but is looking for other options.

"I've been hitting for eight years, and setting is a new challenge," Garrigues said. "It's demanding mentally ... you are the decision-maker on the court. I love hitting. But in setting, you get that self-satisfaction."

Posse, who has been teammates with Garrigues for several years in club and high school, believes she can make the transition.

"She keeps getting better and she's got a great volleyball IQ," Posse said.

Garrigues' career might not take her far from volleyball. At Rancho Cucamonga, she works in the training room and was an athletic trainer for the football team. She'd like to pursue that in college.

But Blevins believes Garrigues would be successful at another career that would bring her closer to volleyball.

"Someday she'll be a great coach," Blevins said. "She watches hitting lines and knows what tendencies are. She's got a very quick eye for that.

"She would be a welcome addition to my staff."