Familiar face named coach SK volleyball

"After months of searching for a new varsity volleyball coach, South Kitsap High School Athletic Director Steve Reischman didn't have to look past SK's own backyard.Reischman announced former SK assistant volleyball coach Cathy Gangnes will take over the program.Ganges takes over for Mary Pugh, who resigned earlier this year.Though there were no other candidates for the job, Reischman said Gangnes has the qualities and meets the standards he looks for in a coach.She's a very sound, a good philosophical coach, Reischman said. I think she'll be great for the girls and we're happy to take her.Gangnes, who teaches math at SK, has been in the SK school district since 1989.She coached varsity volleyball at Sedgwick Junior High for six years before becoming an assistant volleyball coach at SK from 1995-1999. She did not coach volleyball last year.Reischman also named Marti Mahar the new assistant volleyball coach.Mahar is a new teacher in the language arts department.While student teaching, she coached a year at a high school in Nebraskaand has experience in high school and club volleyball. Gangnes grew up in Newport, Calif., where volleyball is unavoidable.After playing in high school, she played for years at the University of Utah.Her coaching experience started at Olympic College in 1983 as a volunteer coach and she took over as the head coach in 1984-85.She left OC to become the coach at Olympic High School from 1986-88 before moving to the SK school district.Gangnes was unavailable for comment at press time.Gangnes takes over a program that has improved over the last three years.In 1998 SK advanced to its first district tournament, and repeated that feat in 1999 and 2000.But 2000 was the dream season for SK, earning its first state berth.It originally looked like the bulk of last year's team would be back this year, but that is not the case.Though Narrows League MVP Rachelle Cooper is gone to graduation, the team looked like it would be strong with the return of Narrows League first team selections Erin Olsen and Katie Ralph, both seniors-to-be, and Erin's younger sister Stephanie Olsen, who will be a sophomore. But the Olsen sisters have transferred to Puyallup High School and Ralph has said she may not turn out and concentrate on club volleyball.Gangnes will soon get a good feel for the future of SK volleyball.She will be running a high school mini-camp July 24-26 from 9 a.m. to noon. "

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