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East Central’s young team has kept improving throughout the season to the point that the timing for a big test against a district favorite couldn’t have been better.

“I’m a firm believer that there are four stages to building a team,” first-year East Central coach Todd Dorgan said. “First they have to be able to compete. Then they have to learn how to win. Then they have to win consistently. Finally they have to be able to handle (the pressure that comes with) winning.

“They’ve definitely learned how to compete and they know how to win. They know what it takes to work through (adversity). They know they have to be on their ‘A’ game.”

East Central had won its first two District 28-5A matches over Corpus Christi Carroll (14-11, 2-1) and Southwest (12-21, 1-2). That set up a showdown with Steele (19-15, 3-0) last Friday  at East Central’s Stan Bonewitz Center The Hornets (15-14, 2-1) entered the match tied with Steele for first place. Although the Knights prevailed 25-22, 25-19, 25-15, the Hornets are aware of what they need to continue working on for the Oct. 22 rematch at Steele.

“Steele does a very good job of taking care of things on its side of the net,” Dorgan said. “They don’t beat themselves, and they put a lot of pressure on us. We have to realize that, if we’re going to beat them, we’re probably going to have to beat them in five (games) in sets of five points or less.

“We have to have that mindset going in. We have to come out of our blocks with a little more explosion and press them over the net. If they’re the district favorite, we have to realize we’re probably going to have to go five, and they’re going to be tough sets.” East Central’s roster is comprised of eight juniors, three seniors and two sophomores. Many of the upperclassmen gained experience last year under coach Robin Wunderlich, who is now coaching Clemens.

The leadership duties are split between much improved senior outside hitter-middle blocker Lisa Lopez, junior all-district libero Brandi Campos and versatile junior Nichole West.

“Brandi flies around the court, chasing loose balls. She always plays hard and hustles hard,” Dorgan said. “Nichole plays all around. She’s our top and she’s very explosive at the net. Lisa is our emotional leader. There’s an instant energy (surge) when she steps on the court.” Campos led East Central with 31 digs while West contributed 10 kills and 19 digs against Southwest. The Hornets pulled out a 27-25, 28-26, 25-27, 16-25, 15-12 win Oct. 1 at Southwest.

“We won the first two games and I think we were behind in both, but we knew when to start working and competing for every point” Dorgan said. “In the third game, we were up something like 18-10, but we didn’t close it out. In the fourth set, we were just kind of there. In the fifth game, I told them, “It’s all about how we want to finish out.’ ” The Hornets get contributions from setters Danny Alvarez (11 digs, 8 assists vs. Steele) and Alex Pena (5 assists). Although East Central can get a more or less equal distribution of kills from any of the three front-court positions, the best weapon is senior outside hitter Madison Simon (6 kills).

“The beautiful thing about Madison is that when she’s able to take take over a match,” Dorgan said, “when she decides she wants to. She can really take over.

“When we’re clicking, we legitimately have six girls – we’re not talking Destinee Hooker-esque – but six girls who can terminate a play.”

Dorgan plans on defense being the core element of his program.

“They’re understanding what we want from them (defensively),” he said. “They’re recovering and compensating, and taking away the shots we need them to take away.” Dorgan ran the offseason program as a Hornets assistant, which he finds has eased the transition to replacing Wunderlich. He’s been impressed by the resiliency his team has developed during the season, in addition to the degree of its improvement.

“We were down all three sets against Carroll. Last year, I don’t know it that’s a match we would have won,” he said. “It’s not because of the girls having a different coach. Maybe it’s because the girls are starting to believe in themselves.”

East Central plays at 7 p.m. Tuesday at South San (12-12, 0-3) and returns to the Bonewitz Center for a 7 p.m. match against Corpus Christi King (12-13, 1-2).