Caris Claussen is entering her senior season with the Valley Center High School volleyball team determined to make the most of every opportunity.
As a senior captain, Claussen is embracing a larger leadership role while helping the Hornets work toward a successful season and a sub-state championship.
“I’m most excited to see what this group of girls can do together,” Claussen said. “Since it’s my senior year, I want to make the most out of every opportunity.”
Claussen, a 5-foot-8 right-side and outside hitter, said she wants to be someone her teammates can rely on both on and off the court.
“As a captain this year, I’m looking forward to being someone my teammates can count on and step up as a leader on and off the court,” she said.
Claussen has spent the offseason preparing for her final high school season through weightlifting, high school practices, private lessons and club volleyball open gyms.
Her offseason work also gave her opportunities to continue developing as a leader. During her club season, Claussen made encouragement and intentional support of her teammates a priority.
“Stepping up as a leader is something I strive to continue working on,” Claussen said. “During club I made encouragement a focus and being intentional about supporting my teammates.”
Claussen also identified serve receive as an area she wants to improve, particularly as she works toward becoming a six-rotation player. Her club season helped her recognize the importance of confidence and learning from mistakes.
“In the offseason I learned to be more willing to make mistakes and reflect on what I need to get better at in practice or open gyms,” she said.
The Hornets have set their sights on winning sub-state, but Claussen knows reaching that goal will require more than talent. The senior class created a team theme, “Shark Attack,” with each letter representing an important characteristic the team wants to bring to the court.
Two of those characteristics stand out most to Claussen: aggression and resilience.
“We need to have more grit and play aggressive by not holding back,” Claussen said.
Claussen also has established process goals for herself. She wants to approach each practice as if it were a game, give full effort on every ball and use a reset word during competition to prevent one mistake from carrying over into the next point.
“I will not let one bad point lead to another,” Claussen said.
She also has set a goal of recording a .200 hitting percentage each match while continuing to improve her serve receive.
Claussen enters the season coming off a year in which she recorded a .205 hitting percentage, a 92.4% serving percentage and an average of 0.8 blocks per match.
While individual improvement is important, Claussen’s biggest focus remains the success of the Hornets.
“I want to help my team start off strong and have a successful season being proud of everything we accomplish together,” Claussen said.
With one final high school season ahead, Claussen is ready to put her preparation, leadership and “Shark Attack” mentality to work.
“I’m also excited to compete against some tough teams in our league and push myself to be the best player I can be,” she said.
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