1983- Women's Volleyball spikes competition enroute to perfect season
11/23/2020 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Esther Morón was one of the original group of athletes on campus when UC Santa Cruz joined the NCAA, and saw the women's volleyball team develop into an early powerhouse by the time she graduated.
A native of Riverside, Morón joined the team her freshman year in 1982 after missing the sport. Coming from a high school team that made the CIF Semifinals, she was put off at first at the almost too laid back approach of the team, which was just in their second NCAA season.
She says "it was really hard for me to go from playing competitively in high school to going to a school that it was like, 'Wait a minute: why do you have a competition team when the focus isn't developing skills, and then you go to schools and you sort of play?' Like to me, I couldn't connect with the idea."
When former coach Corrinne Peh left after the 1982 season, Morón and the team helped interview her replacement, and that's how they met Cindy Kerwin, fresh from the University of Arizona where she was All-Conference.
"We just loved Cindy's get-go, her energy, where she came from, what she accomplished, and her drive," said Morón. "It was just, especially for me, a reawakening of 'I can jump back into what I was used to in the first place.' "
Morón recalled that her new coach worked on improving the team's conditioning, integrating runs across campus into their training.
After opening 1983 with a 4-0 record at the San Jose Christian Tournament, the team gelled and improved with each match. Against Simpson, UCSC rallied from a 14-6 deficit to take the first game 16-14 enroute to a home sweep. After rotating with Brooke Hardin at setter most of the year, Morón became sole setter in a match at Notre Dame de Namur, where UCSC pulled out a 3-1 win.
"I think for me, the biggest surprise was becoming a setter. At 5'4 ½, volleyball is not usually a sport where someone my height is used all around. In fact, in high school, until my senior year, I was pretty much back-row specialist," she said.
"So yeah, that was Cindy seeing that I had some abilities that I could be eventually developed into a setter. The first couple years, I shared setting with a couple other people. I think by my senior year, I was running the 5-1:
one setter that stays in the whole time. So I will forever be grateful to her for providing me opportunity and having faith that I could do it."
The team completed a perfect 18-0 season on November 19 by winning the Bay Area Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament at home, beating Notre Dame 3-1 and sweeping Mills on the same day. In the final, Tina Kaempf had 7 blocks and 6 kills. Angie Harr had seven aces to set a school record that lasted 15 years.
"Once you get a group of individuals- Cindy put us together, she saw our strengths and that's how she filled positions," said Morón.
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| The 1983 BAIAC Championship trophy, on display at UCSC's Department of Athletics and Recreation |
With Morón, Hardin, and Kaempf returning in 1984, the team repeated as BAIAC champions, finishing 16-5 with another perfect league record. In fact, UC Santa Cruz didn't lose to a NorCal team until the season opener of 1985- against Cal-Berkeley at the All-Cal Tournament in Los Angeles.
"I remember the year that UCLA hosted," recalled Morón. "It was so cool, because I remember we were all walking towards the gym and Wilt Chamberlain was sitting outside talking to somebody. And I knew that he dabbled in volleyball, but I was just like 'Oh my God! That's Wilt Chamberlain! He really does play!'
"It was exciting to play the different levels of players, by going to the All-Cals and I was really appreciative of those couple years," she continued. "That was always a fun thing. It's not like any of us ever felt like, 'Oh my God, we're only the Slugs from Santa Cruz'. There was no weird feeling. We held our own.
"I have to say, as with any team, people have to be able to click," Morón continued. "And I remember we all just got along. We all clicked. We all supported each other and just worked well together."
The Banana Slugs won another BAIAC Championship in 1985, with Morón being named Conference MVP and also winning the school's first-ever female Athlete of the Year award at the Chancellor's reception in June 1986.
"I did not even know about the reception. Cindy brought me the plaque. I was in shock," she recalled. "I was amazed and happy, because I felt that all of the athletes worked hard."
Morón stayed in Santa Cruz for a few more years, even serving as interim coach in 1992 when Cindy Kerwin (now Cindy Mori) was on maternity leave. She regards her time at Santa Cruz as special.
"As an athlete, practices are not easy, especially when everyone is focused on the best results possible. So yeah there were days like 'Oh God, I can't do this' 'Yes you can" ... You get that inner dialogue where you're fighting yourself, but in the end you feel great because you did it and then you're able to see the success that you have because of it.
"I wouldn't have had it any other way. I don't know of any, really anything you can do to achieve a high level of success and not really put any effort into it. And if somebody says that you can, I don't believe them."
1983 UCSC Women's Team
Angela Benner
Julie Braly
Brooke Hardin
Angie Harr
Holly Hoods
Tina Kaempf
Susan McQuiddy
Kathy Miura
Esther MorónÂ
Pamela Moroney
Diane Soriano
Janis Tanji
Head Coach- Cindy Kerwin
Asst. Coach- Mike Hoyt
