• Paul Ebner •
• Originally published October 31, 2008 at 10:55 p.m., updated October 31, 2008 at 10:55 p.m.

Football coaches know defenses win championships, but in volleyball a good defense may be just as important.

St. Joseph Lady Flyers coach Suzanne Valenzuela knows how important it is to have a good defense on the court and you can tell that by looking at the team's stat sheet.

The Lady Flyers have five players among the Advocate-area leaders in digs and will most definitely need that defense today when they face Dallas Christian in a TAPPS 4A regional contest at 4 p.m. at the Durbon Center in San Antonio.

"You can't start the game without passing," Valenzuela said. "We definitely have three strong defensive people that are starters in Jayde (Chapa), Tori (Escamilla) and Julie (Cooper).

"They add a lot of value back there because I have them separated enough to have at least two of them in there all the time. Jayde is our libero player and is in there all the time and Tori and Julie play opposite of each other."

Chapa leads the team with 428 digs, while Escamilla has 286 and Cooper 242.

But Valenzuela doesn't have to rely on just those three as Haley Oliver and Summer Brooks have also come up big on the back row. Oliver has 232 digs and Brooks 205.

"Summer doesn't get a lot of playing time in the back but she does end up serving so she stays back there defensively," Valenzuela said. "She's a smart server and the other thing is we run a pike hit with her, so from the back row we actually run some hits with her so she's going to add that value to us at regional."

Valenzuela also feels her team could have the height advantage against Dallas Christian and that could play big if the Lady Flyers want to make their second state tournament appearance in four years.

"They have a couple of stronger hitters and their first rotation is going to be strong and they run a 5-1," Valenzuela said. "I for us the advantage is we run with two setters in a 6-2 and have blockers all the way around. And, we definitely have height, and with that we are going to have to commit to putting the kills down."

Despite having lost two of their last three matches including a three-game loss to Shiner in a warm-up match, Valenzuela still feels confident in her team.

"I'm feeling really confident in the girls right now," Valenzuela said. "We lost to Shiner but the big thing is they run a lot of fake plays and allowed us to work on some things."

The winner of today's contest advance to the state tournament and will face to Fort Bend Baptist-Arlington Grace Prep winner in the semifinals on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at the Merrell Center in Katy.

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