Rachel Dayton is a sophomore on the Las Positas volleyball team. Dayton attended both Kimball High School in Tracy and Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton prior to attending Las Positas. She played volleyball at Kimball alongside current LPC teammate Sydney Rhoads, before transferring to AVHS where she also performed in the play ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie.’ After high school, she reached out to the former assistant coach at Las Positas, as well as LPC volleyball coach Gary Reznick and learned about the women’s volleyball program at Las Positas College.
There was a lot of uncertainty surrounding community college athletes being able to play sports at all during the pandemic. While some sports returned others were canceled, including women’s volleyball. Dayton was looking forward to playing her second season. Dayton stated that the team this year was expected to improve but with the season canceled the team did not have a chance to play.
Due to COVID restrictions, the team has been doing outside workouts by the soccer field. The first week of practice was tough since everyone was just coming back into shape.
“It was hard for the team to practice outside because of the pandemic and having to workout with the masks on. It would be hard to talk with your teammates to know if the ball was in play,“ said Dayton.
Dayton plays outside hitter and setter for the LadyHawks. Dayton was likely to be one of the captains this season if the team got to play. The lady hawks did not have a great team even though they had a lot of talent.
She had a great first season for the Hawks as she led the team in kills, assists and Digs while also leading in points with 163. Dayton was looking forward to improving from her first season playing for the Hawks. Last season the Hawks were going for success, but they had a rough season going 8-14. Some of the key players were injured and missed some games.
Dayton played in all 22 matches. Dayton had 127 kills overall and 56 kills in the conference.
Dayton says she gets along well with her teammates well. She was glad that the team last season was able to click when they first got to know each other and how they played. The sophomores this year were looking forward to playing their season in the fall but the pandemic had other plans. Rachel will have one more season of eligibility at LPC with the Hawks as she tries to make the most out of her last season.
Brandon Byrne is the social media editor for The Express. Follow him @brandonbyrne18.
