MISSION — Caroline Cuellar saw a petite girl playing volleyball during the summer between that athlete’s seventh and eighth grade school year.
“The first time I saw her, I said, ‘Oh yeah, this girl is going to be on varsity (as a freshman),’” Cuellar said. “She didn’t have any idea.”
Cuellar’s prognostication was right on. Now, a sophomore, Victoria Gonzalez directed an offense that led PSJA High to a District 31-6A co-district championship. For her outstanding season, Gonzalez has been named The Monitor’s 2021 All-Area Volleyball Setter of the Year.
“She has such soft hands, even back then,” Cuellar said. “This year, she found the hot hand. She recognized the situations we were in and set people up to get out of a certain rotation.”
What set the District 31-6A Setter of the Year apart from the rest was her ability to know where each of her hitters liked the ball. That was no easy task considering how many hitters the Bears regularly used— nine. Each one of those hitters, like on any team, has their preferences, but Gonzalez connected with all of them.
In district alone, she compiled 281 assists, 42 aces, 131 digs and even 23 kills.
Most of her success came from her velvety touch and communicating with her hitters.
“The ones that wouldn’t tell me if they liked the set or not, I would get on them,” she said. “I would tell them that they would have to let me know so I could put them in the best positions possible.”
“She’s a very, very quiet girl but her leadership shows on the court,” Cuellar said. “She was always all over the court and she would make something happen in tough situations, whether it was a bump set or whatever she needed to do.
“She knew where the hitters liked the ball and they knew she would put it right there for them. She did that on her own time, at home, just constantly working.”
Gonzalez said she wasn’t sure how this year would turn out. The Bears had a preseason schedule loaded with state-ranked teams both in non-district matches and tournaments.
The early results weren’t exactly the best. Those results, however, created one of the strongest PSJA High teams in recent years, Cuellar focusing as much on the mental aspect as the physical aspect, all while also relying on Gonzalez to lead an offense that was becoming more versatile every week.
“Coach just kept telling us to fight through it,” Gonzalez said. “We were progressing and we could see it. It was frustrating at times early when we were playing those high-level teams, but we were getting better and that was encouraging.
“Then we played our first district game and kicked butt — that taught us how important it was to keep pushing forward. It motivated us.”
Cuellar said when the team would go back to watch film they couldn’t help but notice Gonzalez was always where the ball was, good pass or not.
“She was under some pressure early and a couple times I saw it, but she was always trying to make the best out of every play,” Cuellar said. “I never had to tell her about when to dump the ball, either. She knew when to do it and why. She would just take control.
“When I first saw her, she was just this little quiet girl. I know she didn’t know at the time, but I knew. She was going to be big for us.”