STOCKTON — In dire need of a new volleyball coach, it turned out Weston Ranch athletic director Craig Bingham didn’t need to search far to find one after all.
Longtime basketball coach Eddie Menzel took over the Cougars’ volleyball program in July, just in time to get players ready for the 2016 season. Bingham said that the likelihood of cancelling the season for the Cougars became a possibility before Menzel offered his services.
A 2004 East Union graduate and special education teacher at George Komure School, Menzel is the fifth head volleyball coach in Weston Ranch’s 13-year varsity history.
“I would put it in the miracle category,” Bingham said. “I had very few applicants. One had a really good history wherever she went but she ended up somewhere else. It was kind of disheartening.
“Someone mentioned Eddie and he’s a great coach. He’s very organized, and in talking with the girls they like what he’s doing so far. I’m very pleased with the hire, and he brought in a great team of coaches.”
Former Chavez High players Monica Sales (sophomore head coach) and Tessa Lea’ea (assistant) are part of Menzel’s staff. Lea’ea competed for Nevada-Reno and made All-Mountain West honorable mention as a senior in 2014. Weston Ranch graduate Marianne Igarta returns to lead the freshman squad. Jennifer Viguerias, the Cougars’ starting setter last year, serves as an assistant.
Menzel grew up playing volleyball recreationally but admits there is much to learn on the job. He doesn’t lack coaching experience, however. Most of his 10 years spent as a high school coach have been at Weston Ranch, where he is currently a varsity assistant under Chris Teevan for the school’s reigning Valley Oak League and Sac-Joaquin Section Division III champion boys basketball team. Menzel was previously head coach of Excel Academy’s men’s basketball team for a year. 
“It’s going to be a big difference because as much volleyball as I’ve played I’ve never coached it, so I just took a page out of Teevan’s notebook and got a bunch of great assistant coaches,” Menzel joked. “I have a lot of great assistant coaches with experience I can lean on a lot.”
The coaches have had little time with their players, so they are still in the process of assessing what they have available while working on fundamentals.
Weston Ranch is coming off its best season in which it went 6-8 in the VOL and 12-13 overall under previous coach Stacia Stricker, but there are few returners from that squad. The Cougars do have outside hitter Amaya Finley, who was selected to the All-VOL first team as a sophomore last year.
“The girls work really hard and they do whatever we ask them to,” Menzel said. “Thankfully, Stacia did a good job with the program. I’m grateful to walk into a situation where a lot of girls wanted to be involved, and a lot of that was because of what (Stricker) had already established with the program.”