Riviera-Kaufer High School’s varsity volleyball season came to an end after the Lady Seahawks lost in three straight matches against Skidmore-Tynan in the bidistrict round of the playoffs earlier this past week. Kaufer finished in second place in District 32-2A with a 9-4 record this past season. The lady water-birds secured the second postseason spot after downing Santa Rosa in a tiebreaker game a week ago.

Head Coach Tiffany Machart said her team’s success this season came through good old fashioned tenacity.

“They consistently fought back real hard, we started of the season a little shaky with everything but they came back fighting in many games we needed to win,” Machart said. “We had a rough three week patch where we lost two important games we needed to win to stay with Bishop but we came back fighting and beat Santa Rosa when we needed to.”

Rather than plant their chins on their chests whenever they fell behind during the 2009 campaign, the lady waterbirds consistently flipped a switch and came roaring back.

“They have lots of determination, they know when they need to step up and fight for something and they do not get down.” Machart said.

With volleyball season now over, Machart shifts her focus as Kaufer’s head softball coach. Still, she already knows what her v-ball squad need to work on to become better next year.

“Just playing together as a team, we have a great group of girls coming back next year as we are only losing three seniors so most of my starters are going to come back,” Machart said. “We just have to learn to play more as a team and not individually which was a big problem for us this year.”

Kaufer should benefit with a lot of experienced players expected to come back in 2010.

“It is a big time benefit, we will probably have four starters coming back,“ Machart said. “Overall, I have seven or eight girls coming back next year who have been on varsity since their freshman and sophomore years. So they know how to play at the varsity level and what they need to get done and the group of girls who are going to be seniors next year are good leaders, can step up to the plate and know how to make a team better; so I am really looking forward to next season.”