DAKOTAH ZABROSKI
Staff Writer
The Mustangs volleyball team looks to have a successful season and they plan to do it with some of the new talent Head Coach Lou Panzella has acquired.
A big addition to the team is outside hitter Taylor Scriven, a former three-year varsity starter at Liberty High School. On top of that, she received second team all-league honors her junior year, and first team all-league honors her senior year. Scriven was more than honored to receive these achievements considering that coaches from around the league decided on the award.
“It was cool to see that other people thought that I was good,” Scriven said.
During her time at Liberty, she racked up the stats. She had 707 digs and 586 kills over her three-year high school career.
Scriven recalls playing for about nine to ten years. She has played volleyball most of her life, including club volleyball, high school, and now college volleyball. It seems that she can’t get enough of volleyball; she also has coached for three years at Excelsior Middle School and even helped coach a club team.
Scriven resides in Discovery Bay and lives with her mother and two sisters. When she isn’t involved with volleyball (which isn’t very often), the outside hitter enjoys hanging out with friends or family. Her main hobby is collecting movie tickets for movies that she saw.
The outside hitter is striving to get her psychology degree in hopes to work for the FBI one day as a behavioral analyst. She has kept her studies a priority so she can achieve her goal.
“I usually had pretty good grades, I always had a 3.0 or above in high school,” said Scriven.
Taylor recalls two favorite moments in her volleyball career; one from high school, and one just recently at her time at LMC.
LMC won its first game of the young season after losing all three games in the previous tournament, which stood out to Scriven because she saw improvement in her team.
“I know we’re only going to get better,’ said Scriven.
At Liberty, her favorite moment was when her team beat cross-town rivals Heritage in three games. It was the first time that Liberty had beaten Heritage while she was on the team, so naturally it was a cause for celebration.
After high school, Scriven wanted to still play volleyball competitively because of her intense love for the game. In the end, she came to LMC to show off her talents and play under a familiar face. She has played for Panzella for club volleyball and he loves her style of play. Upon hearing the news that Scriven was going to play for LMC, Panzella was excited for her arrival.
“It was an awesome day when she committed to come play for LMC,” said Panzella.
She plans on playing for LMC for two years and wants to get recruited by a four-year college for Volleyball. She has no desire to leave the state and preferably would want to play for schools down south because of the weather and the beaches. She would go pro given the chance, but for now she sees herself 10 years from now being in the FBI or coaching volleyball.—or both.
Taylor considers herself a leader and has a fiery intensity that makes her competitive.
“I want to win,” said Scriven.
Scriven’s attributes and hard work have not gone unnoticed by teammates.
“Taylor is the true definition of a teammate. She has great empathy for others. She is competitive, hardworking, and committed to winning,” said  teammate Kiana Pinkowski.
Her intensity has caught the attention of her coach.
“She brings intensity, leadership, competitiveness, humor, focus – did I mention leadership?” said Panzella.
Panzella can see her fight and intensity. One of his favorite qualities about her is her ability to “give her all to the team and always gives her best to whatever she does.”
Scriven considers herself an outgoing person. Panzella considers her as someone who is always pushing herself to be better, and is a fun player to watch.
“She plays with such raw emotion and it shows – whether she’s playing great or struggling,” said Panzella.
Her weakness is being over-competitive she admits, but she attributes that to her deep desire to always want to win. She has high standards set for herself while playing that her coach has noted.
“Her biggest weakness is how hard she is on herself when she fails to play up to her standards,” said Panzella.
Of course, Scriven has weaknesses. She is only human. It is her strengths that truly make her a special player. She has many strengths, but there is one that her coach notices in particular.
“Her desire to compete is her greatest strength,” said Panzella.
Many of her teammates are new to her, given the fact that this is her first year at LMC. She has played with only two women on the team before but she looks forward to seeing her team progress throughout the season. She believes her team’s chemistry will only get better as the season progresses. Of course she wants to win, but also looks forward to getting to know her teammates better.
“I’m looking forward to making new friendships,” said Scriven.