Chaparral realistically talks first state championship since ’94

Chaparral’s girls volleyball players don’t need to be reminded often that 1994 was the last year their program won a state championship.

“They see the banner every day in the gym, and they want one themselves,” coach Jay Renneker said.

With five starters back from a playoff team and a new division to play in, the Cowboys have their sights set on a season the school could long remember.

“I think we’re going to be better as a whole, as one,” senior outside hitter Jaeda Allen said. “ 'One team, one goal.’ That’s our motto.”

Chaparral enjoyed a turnaround season last year, claiming the No. 2 seed in the Northeast League to reach the Class 4A Sunrise Region playoffs for the first time since 2007.

Now, the Cowboys are in the new Division I-A Sunrise League with Boulder City, Desert Pines, Moapa Valley, Sunrise Mountain, Tech and Virgin Valley. The top four teams reach the I-A postseason.

“There’s a lot of tough teams out there, but we feel like we can be one of them,” Renneker said. “I know their No. 1 goal is the state championship.”

Allen emerged as a dominant force last season, and the 6-foot-2-inch outside hitter is back to lead a group of eight returning letter winners.

“Jaeda’s one of the best hitters in the state. She’s one of the hardest working kids I’ve ever had,” Renneker said.

Also back is senior middle blocker Rita Mesa-Mola, who earned first-team All-Northeast honors along with Allen last season.

Senior libero Cheyenne Huntsman, senior setter Katie Oliveira and junior middle blocker Hannah Kirschbaum give the Cowboys more experience.

“It’s great that we have players from last year coming back, but with all our new girls, they pick things up really fast,” Oliveira said. “We all fit in together as a team. That’s probably one of our strongest factors, is how well we work together and how (much) like a family we are.”

Chaparral ended last season 11-13 after losing 25-19, 25-11, 25-14 to Silverado in the quarterfinals of the Sunrise tournament. The early exit has provided the Cowboys further motivation.

“It makes us look forward to the future,” Allen said. “We know it’s going to be a long road, and it’s going to be hard, but we want to push ourselves harder.”

Huntsman said the Cowboys improved significantly over the summer.

“We’ve learned a lot with girls going to camps and playing volleyball all summer,” she said. “I think we’ve improved so much.”

Chaparral (4-4) opened the season with a 2-4 record at the prestigious Las Vegas Invitational, giving the Cowboys an idea of what to work on before their league opener against visiting Desert Pines at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Renneker has molded his program from 5-18 in 2010 to a 4A playoff team last season to being able to mention a I-A state title as a realistic goal this year.

He deflected credit to his seniors.

“Jaeda, Katie, Cheyenne (and) Rita, they’re seniors. This is the year they’ve been waiting for,” he said. “They decided as sophomores that they wanted to be great, that they wanted to change Chaparral’s history. They’ve put the time in.

“We’ve asked a lot of them, and they’ve given us a lot.”