2009 Girls’ Volleyball Preview:

GLENDALE — Across three cities and five different leagues, the seven area girls’ volleyball programs will compete throughout the 2009 season with a common goal in mind — making the playoffs.

For some teams that haven’t reached the postseason in a while, that alone might be enough to constitute a successful campaign.

Others that have established themselves as playoff squads in recent years will be looking for more.

Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy was eliminated from the CIF Southern Section Division I-AA playoffs in the first round last year, but will now look to get closer to the standards of previous seasons that saw the Tologs reel off a string of semifinals appearances and even a run to the Division I-A title game in 2007.

First, Sacred Heart will once again have to get through the tough Mission League, where it placed second last year.

Leading the Tologs in that effort will be top returners Mary Schroeder and Camille Coffey, both all-league selections a year ago, and Alyssa Walton and Momo McDonald.

Schroeder and McDonald, the senior middles, and Coffey and Walton, a pair of juniors who play on the outside, will share the court with a mix of sophomores that will be expected to adjust quickly to the varsity game.

Alessandra Orlandini will fill the setter role previously held by her cousins Sam and Jenna Orlandini, consecutively, Laura Schroeder will see time in the middle and Shelby Tom is the likely libero.

“We’re pretty young there,” Sacred Heart Coach Shelli Orlandini said. “Laura, Alessandra and Shelby all play on the same club team, so they know how to play together. They just need to get some experience under their belt and a little bit of savvy. Right now, it’s a big jump from JV to varsity and they’ve just gotta be able to make the transition smoothly.”

Defending champion Harvard-Westlake and a stacked Louisville team will be the Tologs’ toughest obstacles in league.

In the Pacific League, Crescenta Valley is also looking to extend its season past the first round of the postseason after improving from a fourth-place finish in 2007 to contending for the league title up until the last match of the season before finishing tied for second last year.