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Vanessa Williams and Amalia Jarvis can’t completely replace Desiree Guilliard-Young, but the Berkeley High seniors are doing their best to make up for the production of the former Yellowjacket star. 

Williams and Jarvis are the big hitters for a Berkeley volleyball team that went undefeated in the Alameda-Contra Costa Athletic League after routing Alameda High last night. The win improved Berkeley High’s record to 21-10 overall and 14-0 in conference. 

Williams, a middle blocker, and Jarvis, an outside hitter, became the go-to players for Berkeley coach Justin Caraway after the graduation of Guilliard-Young, who is redshirting this season at Baylor University. Williams recently broke Guillard-Young’s school career kills record.  

Jarvis isn’t far behind with 195 kills, 198 digs and 38 aces this season (before the Alameda match). 

While they play different positions, the two Yellowjackets are similar in many ways. They each stand 5-foot-10, they’ve played club ball together and they’re co-captains for the Yellowjackets. 

“We’re really close,” Jarvis said. “[Williams] is one of my best friends on the team this year. We get along really well because we have the same ideas about volleyball and the same ideas about how to make the team better. I’m glad she’s here, because I wouldn’t be able to do it myself, probably.” 

The 6-foot-5 Guilliard-Young was the only BHS captain as a senior last year, when her team won the North Coast Section Division I title. 

“A 6-5 player is never going to be replaced,” Caraway said of Guillard-Young. “Instead of a lot of firepower in one position, now we have a lot of firepower at two. They’re our offense. We go as they go. If one is off, the other one is usually on. If both are off, we’re in trouble.” 

Jarvis and Williams used to play together on the Golden Bear club and led their team to nationals last year. Williams will continue on with Golden Bear this year, while Jarvis will switch to M Power. 

Williams’ club and high school success caught the eye of several Division I colleges, including North Carolina, Georgetown and Northeastern, though she decided to go to Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La. Jarvis is still deciding on her future and has applied to schools such as Cornell, Tufts and McGill University in Montreal. 

Caraway decided that this year he’d make Jarvis and Williams his team leaders since they have plenty of high-level playing experience. But the duo has found that replacing Guillard-Young in leadership roles is even more difficult than replacing her on the stat sheet.  

The team dynamic was a bit different last season, when Caraway had a more experienced team to coach. Guilliard-Young, as team captain, was afforded much respect, partly due to her class, partly due to her tremendous talent and partly due to her physical stature. 

“At the beginning of the year, it was hard for some people on the team to draw the line between being friends with us and figuring out how to follow us as leaders,” Williams said. “They gave Desiree a lot more respect. Physically, she’s 6-5 and she wasn’t as close to them as friends, so it was easier for them to draw that line. When she led stretches, they were quiet. It was, ‘Yes, ma’am,’ and you got the job done. When we’re leading stretches, they’re talking and not doing them right. To see people talking, laughing, it’s frustrating.” 

A couple of team meetings and constant work by Jarvis and Williams has led to improvement. 

“We’re working more now as a team now than we were in the beginning, which is really nice to see,” Jarvis said. “We’ve just been able to play as a team and we’re talking more and understanding better what we all need to do to make ourselves better.” 

Now that the Yellowjackets are rolling, they’re looking forward to opening NCS playoffs next week. They find out their opponent this week. 

While a repeat of their NCS title may be out of their grasp, Williams and Jarvis hope to go out with a strong postseason. 

“We have so much fun on the court when we’re playing well,” Williams said. “We’re laughing, giving each other high fives, and it’s the best time.”