WATSONVILLE — The Monte Vista Christian Mustangs still have fond memories of last year’s Central Coast Section championship run — the program’s first since 1997.
For most, it’s two weeks they’ll never forget. For Cassidy Schurman, it has served as motivation.
The Mustangs’ junior outside hitter had to sit out the entirety of last year’s post season because of an injury to her right eye which required surgery to repair.
While the Mustangs were busy ripping through teams en route to the CCS Division IV championship, Schurman was watching from the sidelines. And while M.V.C. advanced to the program’s first-ever Northern California regional final, Schurman was tucked away in the stands not wanting to draw attention to the patch over her eye and protective specs she had to wear.
“It was horrible having to sit up at the top of the bleachers,” Schurman said. “I was so self-conscious about wearing the glasses and all the other stuff. I was like, ‘mom, I can’t do it.’ So I sat in the very top back corner.”
Now, Schurman is back on the court and in the middle of the action. Her vision is back to normal and her game, following a summer on the beach, is anything but ordinary.
All of M.V.C.’s players are hungry to repeat last year’s historic CCS run but Schurman is starving to simply get a taste of the playoff action that eluded her a season ago.
On Wednesday night, she finally got a little nibble. The No. 5 Mustangs began CCS D-IV play with a 26-24, 25-15, 25-16 sweep of visiting No. 12 Half Moon Bay.
“We came in and focused on not underestimating a team,” Schurman said. “We face every team like they’re one of the top teams in California. That’s how we really want to play.”
Schurman didn’t lead the team in kills as she has throughout the season but played a solid match, picking her spots offensively and digging nearly everything defensively. Merely getting an opportunity to play in the playoffs was a successful night for her.
“That’s something that she was a part of because she was with the team and she helped us get that record last year, but this is something that she didn’t get to experience as a player,” said M.V.C. head coach Kiley Woods. “She wanted that. It’s fun to see her play right now in playoffs.”
Schurman last season was a solid complementary piece to M.V.C’s top hitter Sjea Anderson and was one of many reasons the Mustangs believed they could compete for the section title. But in the final game of the regular season against Notre Dame-Salinas, she took a zooming ball directly to her right eye.
Immediately, she knew something was wrong. She lost all peripheral vision in her eye after the hit.
“It was a lucky shot,” Schurman said. “1 out of 1,000,000.”
After corrective surgery, Schurman’s vision in her right eye was OK. The only stipulation following the operation was having to wear a pair of protective glasses when she plays. The visor-like eyewear has grown on her over the past few months.
“It keeps me there. It keeps me in it,” Schurman said. “It made me realize that no matter what, it could be your last game whenever you play. It was a really humbling experience not to take things for granted.”
Schurman this season has been the Mustangs’ go-to hitter along with senior Mattea Romo. She led the team in kills through the regular season with 168 even though she missed eight matches down the stretch with a shoulder injury.
She said the time off has been rejuvenating for her and has also helped her teammates grow. With her off the court, the Mustangs’ other weapons, like seniors Kate Watts and Abbey Lynch and junior Malou Oostveen, were forced to step into bigger roles.
“That really made them all come together and be a team,” Schurman said. “If I had been in, yeah, we still would’ve been really close but I feel like it just gave everyone the opportunity to play. It really brought the bench in and it’s made us a whole lot stronger.”
On Wednesday, the first time the Mustangs have had their full squad in nearly a month, Romo finished with a team-high 11 kills, while Watts, Lynch and sophomore Allie Tillery all added five kills in the sweep of H.M.B. (6-21).
The Mustangs, now 15-14 overall, play No. 4 King City High on Saturday at 7 p.m.
From here on out, M.V.C. will be the underdog in every match they play in. Yet, the Mustangs feel good about their chances of repeating.
“It’s a different team than last year but the group that we have coming into playoffs this year is equally as strong,” Lynch said. “I obviously can’t predict the future but I think that we’ll do well.”
