Final Fall Signing

We have one last announcement this year before we move on to 2012. We are pleased to announce that Chelby Stanford will be playing for the Lady Rebels next season!

Chelby is a 3 year starting setter from Leon Jewett High School, where during those 3 years her teams had a record of 125-10, making two state tournament appearances.  That would be impressive if those were the only accomplishments she has earned, but there are many more.  Chelby has also made three TGCA All-State teams, two Texas Sportswriters teams, received a first team All Brazos Valley honor, a district MVP award and made two all-state tournament teams.  This summer she will be playing in the Texas Coach’s All-Star game in the 1A-3A match.  There are a lot more of these awards but that's all I have the space to list!

We first saw Chelby on film playing a local high school and were immediately drawn to how well she works with her team.  Her teams have always been successful (that record is really good!) and seeing her in person only confirmed that.  Speaking with her over the phone and in person has been a great experience as it has allowed our staff and team to see the wonderful individual that she is.  

Chelby comes from a great family and will no doubt contribute to our program next season.  We are tremendously excited that she chose to play for us and believe that she will help take our team to that next level!

This will be the final update for 2011!  It has been a good year, but one that we as a group will work to improve on in the upcoming year. As we move into 2012 the Lady Rebels volleyball program wishes you a wonderful holiday break and hope that 2012 will be a better year than 2011!

Signings

So besides the official release (which will come out soon), we're going to recap our early signing class right here.  We've got three signed already, with one more soon to come.  We'll announce her after she signs, but today is all about Jill, Tammy, and Kaitlin.

Jill Griffin is a 5'9" outside hitter from Centerville, TX.  She was a 4 year starter for Centerville High School, during which time her teams went 52-0 in district play and made one state tournament appearance!  This past season her team went 40-3 and lost in the regional semi-finals.  She's also a two time TGCA all-state selection and has won numerous other all-district and tournament MVP awards.

I'm very excited to have her on the team.  Jill will be competing for an outside hitter position and maybe even a defensive specialist position as well.  She knows how to win and will help our team take the next step in our quest to win our conference.

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Tammy Leranth is a 6'1" RSH from Lewisville, TX.  At 5A Lewisville High School, playing in what I think was the toughest district in the state (8-5A) she led her team in kills and was named first team all-district.  Additionally, she also led her team in kills as a junior and was named her teams best offensive player.

Tammy will be the first lefty we have had on campus in the past few seasons, so she will allow us to diversify our offense.  Her height and athleticism will also allow us to compete with the top teams in the state in that area.  I've enjoyed communicating with Tammy for the past few months and can't wait to see her play with this team.

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Finally, Kaitlin Poe is a 5'8" setter from Gatesville, TX. A three year starter, she was named best setter in her district this year as her team went 37-5 and lost in the regional semi-finals.  Kaitlin is also beginning her second year as the starting setter for the Waco Juniors 18's club team, playing against the best competition the state of Texas has to offer, so she will be ready to compete in the fall.

Kaitlin will bring a calming influence on our team.  She knows how to lead and her previous successes are an example of that.  She will definitely compete for the starting setter job, and her athleticism will give us a lot of versatility as well.
Overall I am very happy with this group.  All three of these know how to compete and win, and will not assume anything will be given to them.  They will work and make not only themselves better, but the people around them.

We're winding down our semester here at Hill.  Most of the team finished their finals exams today so there won't be much more news from here for the next few weeks.  Look for one more commitment and then we'll take a break for the holiday season.

Season complete

After defeating Ranger in an exciting match on Saturday, we had to play Temple Saturday evening.  The winner of this match would advance to the conference championship game and would only have to win one more match.  The loser would have to play again Sunday morning and then win 2 more times in order to go to nationals.  Needless to say, this was an important match.

We made a couple of small adjustments to match up with Temple, just as they did from the last time we played them.  They came out ready to play in game 1 and took that from us 25-18.  Game 2 we made a little rally and tied it up near the end, but Temple made some good plays and won 25-23.  Unfortunately for us they carried that momentum into game 3 and won 25-17.  In my opinion, it was the best they had played against us all season and the scores proved that.

Sunday morning we played NCTC for the fourth time this year.  Previously we had lost to them in 4 (but scored more points than they did), lost to them at their place 16-14 in the 5th, and beat them at our place in 4.  Needless to say I thought it would be a competitive match.  I don't know if there was a carryover effect from our loss the night before, but combine that with NCTC's excellent play and we lost in 3.

Our season ends on a disappointing note.  I know that none of us pictured going out this way at the beginning of the season.  Now we just have to look forward.  Our off season program will make our players ready for next season and our sophomores ready to compete at whatever schools they transfer to.  We will continue to recruit players that realize what it takes to be successful and combine them with our returning freshmen.  There is a lot of work to do and we are all looking forward to it!

Good luck to Temple, Blinn, San Jacinto and Western Texas who will be representing the state of Texas at the national tournament!

Play-off update

We just got back to the hotel after our semi-fnial match against Ranger.  Let me tell you this: this was no easy match...

We started off very slow.  We did not do the little things correctly and as a result we lost the first 2 games by identical scores of 25-18.  We did have a few moments, but Ranger outplayed us.

Our lack of focus continued into game 3 and we started off down 5-1.  After a time-out it was like the light bulb finally went off.  We started digging more balls but more importantly we converted quickly and effectively.  Instead of making weak plays, we made confident play.  As a result we won game three 25-21 and game four 25-22.

Game 5 was good for us at the beginning and we were up 8-4 at the side change.  Then Ranger came roaring back and took advantage of some less than stellar plays and tied it up at 10.  After that, it was back and forth.  14-14.  15-15.  16-16.  We had multiple swings for match point but couldn't convert.  i won't lie to you I was getting very nervous.  This was a intense game!  Finally, we got up 17-16 and Taelor Higgins converted a quick middle set to the floor for a huge comeback win!!! And then we celebrated by going to Which Wich, the "Superior" Sandwich place.

So we play Temple tonight at 7 pm for the fourth time this season.  They looked very good earlier today in beating NCTC in four games so we will have to play at a high level to beat them.  I'll keep you updated, just check here or on our Facebook page.  Go Lady Rebels!!

Play-offs and updates

So after a long season of 36 matches, play-offs are finally here.  We finished in a 3 way tie for second place and after tie breakers we came out 3rd.  This means we will play 2nd seeded Ranger in the first round of our play-offs Saturday at 12 pm at Brookhaven College.  Since our conference is double elimination (think college baseball regional) we will then play a second match that night: at 7 if we win, at 5 if we lose.  We will keep you updated on our Facebook athletics page with how we are doing.

AWARDS
On Monday conference awards were handed out.  Six players were recognized:
- Sybil Westrup: Conference Libero of the year and 1st team All Conference.
- Haley Goldwater: 1st team All Conference
- Phyllicia Cross: 1st team All Conference
- Cayleigh Drake: 2nd team All Conference
- Taelor Higgins: 2nd team All Conference
- Camryn Kazmierski: 2nd team All Conference

I am very proud that these young women were recognized by their opposing coaches, especially Sybil being named libero of the year!  This is the second year in a row that we have recieved this award, after Lauren Ray last year.

Finally, our sand court is finished!!  It looks fantastic, with plenty of space on all sides.  We can't wait to get out there and have some fun!  here are some pictures:

Soph night and pictures galore!

Last night was sophomore night here at Hill College.  I am happy to report that we won in 4 against a very good NCTC team!  This put us at 5-4 in conference (4 wins in a row) and solely in second place.  Right now we know that we are in the regional tournament; we just don't know our seed.  If we win tomorrow at Ranger we will finish in 2nd place by ourselves.  If we lose we will be in a 3 way tie for second place.  Here's hoping for a win tomorrow!

Now, some pictures from last night:

Our four freshmen: (from left) Camryn Kazmierski, Cayleigh Drake, Chelsea Knape and Phyllicia Cross

From left: Brittany Berry, Camryn Kazmierski, and Ayve Alvarado

The entire team and Sophomores parents before the game.

Sophomore setter Haley Goldwater and her mom Melissa at our celebration after the match.

Brittany Berry and family...

Sophomore DS Lauren Myers and her parents

From left: Taelor Higgins, Taylor Jones, Ayve Alvarado, Mariah Everitt, and assistant coach Ashlie Christenson.

From left: Sybil Westrup, Phyllicia Cross, Cayleigh Drake, Camryn Kazmierski, and Chelsea Knape.

Finally, more great news, our sand volleyball court is getting closer to completion!  They have laid the drainage pipes and are about to put in the standards.  Here's a picture I took this morning:

The court is going to be fantastic.  We can't to use it!
Don't forget we have one last home game this Saturday at 1 pm versus Navarro.  Come out and support your Lady Rebels in their last home match this year!

Great win last night!

Last night we went down to Temple and won an amazing match in 5!  We accomplished a lot of firsts last night:

- Our first 5 set win of the year
- Our first win at Temple (at least since I've been here)
- Our first back to back conference wins of the year

As of this point, we are tied for third in our conference, and we play second place Cisco tomorrow at their place.  We've split with them so far this season so I'm hoping we can pull out a win tomorrow and be tied for 2nd!

Also, today they started to pour the concrete for our sand court!  A picture is below.  Hope to see you either at Cisco tomorrow or at home on Tuesday for sophomore night against NCTC.

Friday update

This past week was a little up and down.  We lost to Ranger in 4 on Tuesday, but gained a little revenge on Vernon and won in 4 (25-14, 18-25, 25-19, 25-18).  That match started the second round of conference play.  With 4 games left, we are 1 game out of a play-off spot, so we know what we have to do.

Tomorrow we go on the road to play at Panola, who is a top 20 ranked team.  In my opinion, they were the best team we played last year so they should be very good again this season.  If we play like we did last night, it will be a competitive match.

Sand court update: The rains have slowed construction down a little bit, but here's a picture taken this morning on an absolutely beautiful fall day here in Central Texas.

Weekend update

On Saturday we made the long drive down to San Jacinto for a tri-match.  As a bonus, it was their Dig Pink day so we got to wear our pink shirts again, all for a worthy cause.

Our first match was against Coastal Bend and we did pretty well, winning in 4.  Then we played #5 San Jacinto and lost in 3.  We played solidly in game 3, even having a set point, but couldn't close it out and lost 26-24.  We'll continue our conference play tomorrow against Ranger, who is the only team we have yet to play in our regular season so far.

Finally, I pledged to you to give you updates on the sand court construction.  Here's another picture.  Not a lot has changed but it will start looking pretty good very soon.  Until next time.

A long overdue novel of a post

So I realize that I have not updated this blog in quite some time.  There are many reasons for this; none of them valid.  So over the next few paragraphs (that will probably turn into pages) I will tell you as much as I can.

Our season has been so up and down.  Currently we are 9-16, which is not a good record, but we have been knocking on the door.  Unfortunately it keeps getting slammed in our face as we are 0-6 in 5 set matches.  That's where our biggest issue is.  Last night we went to North Central Texas, a very good team and a place we have never won at, and were up 12-8 in the 5th before losing 16-14.  Now maybe some of that had to do with one of our players getting a concussion from diving into a wall (that's right, our players dive into walls to keep a ball alive), but it doesn't give us an excuse.  So all we can do is get into the gym and get better.

As you just read, one player received a concussion last night.  This past Monday one of our starting middles sprained her ankle so she's missed 2 matches so far.  Two weeks before that our other starting middle severely sprained her ankle and missed about two weeks.  And the week before that Mariah Everitt, a returning outside hitter, tore her ACL and is out for the season.  We have 10 healthy players right now, and are only 2 games back in the conference standings.  Hope is not lost for us yet.

We've also been doing some ancillary activities besides volleyball.  This past Tuesday we had our DIG PINK night and it was a success (other than a loss in, you guessed it, 5 games).  We raised over $500 for breast cancer research, and the final number will be posted early next week.  Here's a picture of the girls before our match:

We have had some good highlights this season.  Haley Goldwater has continued her solid freshman campaign and is currently in the top 25 in the nation in assists, averaging just under 9 a game.  Phyllicia Cross, a freshman OH is in the top 50 nationally in kills per game, and sophomore libero Sybil Westrup is right around 50th in digs per game. 

We've done a good job of getting better as the season progresses.  We've played a brutal schedule, including 5 matches against teams currently in the top 5 national rankings.  While we did lose everyone of those matches, it has shown us what we need to do, which includes more aggressive serving and better defense.  We are taking a lot of baby steps, and I like to think of us this year as the Tampa Bay Rays instead of the Red Sox, for those of you that follow baseball.

Finally, we have some amazing news to share.  I've been talking about how we are building a sand volleyball court for almost a year now.  I've talked about it so much that my friends think I'm joking with them, and they compare it to how long people have been mentioning an Arrested Development  movie. (On a side note, that show is pure genius.  We can find a way to quote it on most road trips).  Well, construction has finally begun!!  Here is a picture to prove it:

What you see in the background are clouds, and we still desperately need rain in Central Texas.  The court should be ready in early November.

Well that is all I have for today.  I promise, nay, pledge to post more photos of the sand court as it is being built.  Until next time...

Scrimmage results

This past Saturday we traveled to Brookhaven for 4 exhibition matches to see where we are as a team.  All 13 players got to see the court and take what they have been working on in practice into game situations.

In the morning pool, we played Paris and Eastfield.  Both matches went 3 and had close games in each.  I know that we were sloppy throughout, (we won one game 25-23 and had 18 hitting/serving errors.  ugh)  but there were some positive signs. 

In the afternoon we played Richland and Tyler.  Once again, we played 3 sets in both matches and we were up and down.  All in all, we finished the day 2-2 and wished we could have done better.

Starting next week, we'll have more in depth results from our matches.  Since it was an exhibition last weekend, it's unfair to us and to other coaches to provide details as I'm assuming some coaches were trying some things.  Don't get me wrong, it was intense.  We were trying to win and losing 2 matches left a bitter taste in our mouths and we will take that into account when we play those teams in the future.

Now we can really focus on fine tuning the little things before Friday.  I hope you will keep following us here and on our facebook page "Hill College Athletics". 

Fall update

Ok, so it's been awhile since our last post.  Fall practice is in full swing!!  We completed two-a-days this afternoon and are ready for our first scrimmage on Saturday.  Let's get you up to date:

- Madeleine Aaron was hired as our assistant coach.  She has played for Coach Tiffin for a few years and knows the systems and technique that make Hill College players successful.  Here's a link to her bio: Coach Aaron Bio

- The girls have been working hard these past few weeks, trying to get better and get into that starting line-up.  Here's some action shots from this past week:

This is Outside Hitter Mariah Everitt.

Defensive players Chelsea Knape (left) and Lauren Myers.

From left: Outside Hitter Phyllicia Cross, Setter Haley Goldwater, and Middle Blocker Cayleigh Drake.

- We have our first scrimmage this Saturday at Brookhaven College.  We'll play 4 teams throughout the day and it will give us a great chance to see different line-ups and it will give the girls a chance to play against unfamiliar opponents.

- We hope you can come out and see us play!  Our schedule is under the Hill College link on the right hand side of the page.  Also, dont forget to find us on Facebook!

Final Spring post

Technically it is summer already, but since graduation was last night I'm calling it spring for one more day.

First off, last week we went down to Houston and had a signing ceremony for Camryn Kazmierski, an OH/OPP from Pearland Dawson.  Great ceremony with the entire volleyball program attending.  Kind words were spoken and cake was shared.  I normally would have a picture but alas, my camera went unused and I haven't found a good picture yet.

We also signed Sybil Westrup, a DS from Midway High School just outside of Waco.  She is a transfer whom I have known for about 5 years and she will provide energy and experience for us.

Finally, all the grades are in and I am proud to announce that our team GPA for the entire 2010-2011 academic year was a 3.14!  This is great news and the team worked very hard to earn it.  

So thats it for the 2010 season.  Now we can focus on 2011.  We have a summer camp in June (details on our website; see the link on the right hand side of the page).  I'm very excited with what we have planned:

- 37 matches, including tournaments in Brookhaven, Blinn, and Galveston
- Matches against the premier junior college teams in Texas, including Blinn, San Jacinto, Panola, and Temple
- 11 home matches, including theme nights such as RED OUT, DIG PINK, and sophomore night

In short, it's going to be a great fall season!  Hope to see you there!

Signing!!

So I'm a little late in putting this up, but we had the pleasure of attending the latest signing ceremony at Copperas Cove High School earlier this month, where Phyllicia Cross signed to be a Lady Rebel!  Phyllicia is an outside hitter who has a lot of experience playing in both high level 5A High School volleyball and in top level club ball with Waco Juniors.

Her coach, Coach Lowery, had many good things to say about Phyllicia, and then proceeded to list all of her accomplishments, which included numerous school records and post season awards.  We could not be happier to have Phyllicia attend Hill College next season!

More signing news later this week...

Athletic banquet

Last night we had our athletic banquet, honoring all athletic teams at Hill for on and off court excellence.  We had 7 players make the Athletic Director's Honor Roll, with all of them having GPA's above 3.4!  Very, very excited about that.  Here is a picture of us after the banquet:

More news to come tomorrow.

Last Spring Tournament

This past Saturday we went to Tyler and competed in a tri-match with Lon Morris and the host team, Tyler JC.  Once again, we just wanted to see where we were at with our individual skills and what we needed to work on heading into the summer.
Our first match was against Tyler and they swept us in 3.  We started out very low and got beat in game 1, but had many chances to win game 2 and couldn't put together the necessary run to get us over the top.  Tyler played very well and looked like a well coached team.  They will be much improved next season in their conference.
Our last match was against Lon Morris and we won that in 3 straight games.  Our middles were very effective and we also won the first contact portion of the match.  When you can do that, good things happen.
It was the last time I will ever coach our sophomores and it was good to see them going out on a win.  We will miss them, and we know that they will be successful.  They also made our team much better this spring and I know our freshmen this year will be successful because of it.
So thats it for this season.  We have our athletic banquet next week, and then finals begin.  The season has flown by.  I'll have updates on our signees and look to our main athletics page for information about our summer camp.

Sophomores Sign!!

Yesterday we had a ceremony in our welcome center for both of our sophomores who are moving on to 4 year institutions.

Sapphire (on the left) was joined by her parents Robert and Jessica, and Lauren's mom Dianne came for the festivities.  Both our president and vice president were able to attend and say some nice words.  Our team was also there and were able to see what happens when you put in the work and effort.
Sapphire signed with Long Island University, which is a Division 1 school in the Northeast Conference.  Lauren signed with Henderson State, a Division 2 school in the Gulf South Conference.  More importantly, they will both be on full rides.
I will be sad to see them leave, as I've known both of them since they were 15 years old.  I know we will be following them next year as they move on and I have no doubt that they will be successful wherever their journey takes them.

Finally, I'll have news on our next spring tourney, a new signee, and other bits of info next week!

Second Spring Scrimmage

Yesterday we went up to Brookhaven College for a spring tourney.  Like our last one, this was a chance to get some floor time for everyone and see where we have progressed.

We played 5 matches in a row.  Literally.  We probably had about 5 minutes between each one.  As a result, I was very happy we had 10 players.  This also showed that our off season conditioning program has been working extremely well because I didn't see any signs of fatigue (other than multiple "I'm hungry" lines from the girls).

Our first match was against Trinity Valley.  We came out very well and continued our solid blocking.  If we can continue to block effectively we can win a lot of games.  We won game one, but for some reason did not block very well in game 2 and Trinity Valley won that.

Each match was just 2 games so we moved on to the next one against Brookhaven.  They are always a tough team to play and we did not match their level and they swept us.  After this match the team had a little heart to heart and from then on things got better.

We beat conference foe Ranger College in straight sets, and split with another conference team NCTC.  As a side note, NCTC will be very good next year.  They came one win away this year from going to nationals and they will be better next season.  They have a solid coach and they always show up to play.  Our conference keeps getting better.

Our last match was against Eastfield, who we have a home and home with next season.  They are much improved from last season, and our game was very competitive.  We won game 1, but lost game 2.

So we got to play volleyball for about 5 hours straight.  We showed areas that we have improved in, and other areas that still need work.  Our conditioning is in fine shape, and we will continue to improve that.  Our last spring tournament is April 16 at Tyler and we will see if we can win some more games there and go to summer on a high note.  Until next time...

First spring scrimmage

Last night we had our first spring scrimmage.  It had been over 4 months since our last competitive match so the girls were ready to play and beat up on somebody other than themselves.

Our matches last night were against the Baylor Club Volleyball teams.  Traditionally, Baylor has one of the strongest club programs in the country, with both teams combining for five Final Four appearances nationally and twelve overall top 10 finishes.  These matches would give us an idea of where we are and the aspects of our game we need to improve on.

Our first match was against the Baylor Gold team.  Our team came out very, very motivated and won game one 25-14.  I was able to mix and match line-ups in the next two games and we won both of those 25-17 and 25-20.  Both of our setters, Haley Goldwater and Michaela McNeely were able to get in a lot of reps and we even tried a 6-2 with Michaela swinging, and I thought that went well.  This versatility gives us options for next season.

The next game was against the Baylor Green team.  To give you an idea of what level of play they are, their record over the past 3 years is 93-12.  They have multiple athletes on their team that had Division 1 offers to play volleyball but chose for one reason or another to come to Baylor.

We started out a little slowly and I called my second time out down 17-11.  It was a good wake-up call for us because every time we did not attack the ball hard over the net, it came back faster at us.  It was like we were throwing off speed pitches and they were hitting home runs.  We started to play much more aggressive and made a nice run to tie it at 24, but we lost 28-26.

We continued our level of play into game 2 and jumped on them early.  We actually were up 24-19, but Baylor made a nice run and we escaped with a 25-23 win.  To put this in perspective, this was the first set that the Baylor team had lost since December.  Game 3 was also very close.  We lost 16-14, making a few too many serving errors and hitting mistakes. 

Overall, the improvement that our team has made since the end of last season has been tremendous.  Our athleticism has improved a lot and as a result our blocking last night was great.  I believe we had about 15 blocks against the Gold team, and the balls that we didn't block we slowed down for our defense to pick up.

Now that we've had some competition, we can keep improving for our next spring tournament, which is Friday April 1 at Brookhaven.  This will give us a chance to see how much we've improved compared to other junior colleges.  We have 8 returning sophomores that are playing now so we are setting a great foundation for next season!

Until next time...

It's Friday

Since it's Friday, here's another update about our program.  In the last week we signed our last two incoming freshmen to join our team next season.  We are very excited and we'll have some pictures up when they have their signing ceremony later this spring.  In the meantime, since they have signed, here's a quick breakdown of who they are:

- Camryn Kazmierski is a 6' OH/OPP hitter from Pearland who plays club ball for AVA.  Camryn is a very solid hitter who can play both pin positions but is currently playing right side for her club team.  She has the potential to come in and give us a big arm and big block at any front row position.  More importantly, she is a fantastic individual and will help our team immensely not just with volleyball but also in our off the court programs.

- Phyllicia Cross is a 5'11" OH from Copperas Cove High School and she plays club ball for Waco Juniors with another commit of ours, Cayleigh Drake.  Phyllicia is a dynamic athlete who could play all 6 rotations for us next season.  She is very similar to Sapphire; a multi dimensional athlete who can hit, receive serve, and play middle back defense.

I could not be more excited about our 4 incoming freshmen.  They are all playing high level club volleyball which means they will be ready to compete at the level we need to be at to be successful in August.  Combine these 4 with the 10 rising sophomores we have on campus now and I can not wait for next season to start.

In the meantime, we start our spring season this coming Thursday with 2 matches against the Baylor Club Volleyball Team.  This is a great way to get back into competition as the Baylor club is already in season and gearing up for their conference championships.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Update

Sorry about missing the last 2 days.  My internet was out, amongst other things.  So update:

As we know, Lauren Ray our libero signed with Henderson State last semester.  We only had one other sophomore on the team, Sapphire Reid.  Sapphire had multiple offers to choose from, and she took full advantage of the process.  She visited schools in Indiana, North Carolina, and two in New York.  In the end she has decided to commit to Long Island University!!!

I am very excited for Sapphire and her family.  I've known her since she was 16 and while I will be sad to see her go, I know she will be successful in New York.

Tomorrow I will give you the updates on our recruits, I promise.

News and Notes

So our team is on spring break this week, which gives me a chance to catch up on everything that has been going on lately.  I'll have an update each day this week as we get into the main portion off-season once the team gets back next week.

Fist off, our assistant Kelsey Loop has taken the head coaching position at Northern Oklahoma College!  We are very excited for Kelsey as she begins her head coaching career.  She did a fantastic job this past season and we will miss her.  It's been interesting to go from recruiting with her at tournaments to seeing her in Houston this past weekend in different colors recruiting for another school.

Here is the link to Kelsey's announcement: Announcement

Changing gears a little bit, the first part of our off season has been going great.  We've been spending more time in the weight room and doing plyos in the gym, as well as more group and individual work.  I've seen a lot of improvement in our team and our freshmen are going to take a big leap next season.  The work in the weight room has definitely paid off, as all of our team is now more explosive (some adding over 100 pounds to their squat max) and quicker.  One of our players has added 6 inches to her approach jump since the start of last season!  This is phenomenal and will allow us to be a very offensive team next season.

I'll have more updates the rest of the week on recruiting for 2011 (hint: we're done and they are signed), our spring schedule, and what else is happening with our program.

Signing!!

It is my pleasure to announce that Hill has officially signed Chelsea Knape, an outside hitter from Texas City High School.  Chelsea is the second class of 2011 player we have signed for this upcoming season.

I watched Chelsea play a few times with her club team, AVA, this past year and was very impressed with how she is as a person.  She's the main outside attacker on her team and with that comes a lot of pressure.  She has shown that she is able to shoulder that responsibility and this will no doubt help her in college. 

Our signing yesterday was in the high school athletic offices, and her Athletic Director, Coach, parents, as well as her club volleyball coach were there.  The coaches had nothing but good things to say about her and I am very excited to have her join our team.

Look or more good news later this week!

Great news!

So February is rolling along.  The girls are working hard in the weight room and we can see the results already.  We are a little rusty when it comes to volleyball skills right now, but we'll get to that later this month and into March.

Recruiting is a blast as usual.  We don't need to find a lot of new players this year like we did last year which makes things easier.  I believe we can get some impact players that can help us win next year.  I'll let you know when we sign them.

Finally, great news for our 2011 signee Cayleigh Drake.  She was named 2010 Prepvolleyball High School Academic All-American!!  This is a great honor since it is a nationwide category.  Cayleigh was one of 8 Texas players named.  The http://www.prepvolleyball.com/ website is a pay site so it's not accessible to all (though you can subscribe if you wish) but I'm going to paste Cayleigh's write up below.  Hope you are enjoying February!

Cayleigh Drake, 5-11 MB, Rogers (Texas) – Named District MVP and Third Team All Centex, Drake slammed 838 kills and added 183 blocks in 2010 for a Rogers team that reached the 2A Region 4A final.  In the classroom, Drake has a 3.97 GPA, combining both high school and college credit classes.  In addition to being a leader in the classroom, she is also the treasurer of her senior class and an officer in the National Honor Society.  Most importantly, she finds time to mentor elementary and middle school students in between classes, basketball, and club volleyball practice.

Wow it's been a long time

So it's been over 2 months since I've posted.  A lot of things have happened.  Let me get you updated:
- Our team GPA for the fall semester was a 3.19!  This is great as it shows that we have well rounded individuals on our team, not just athletes.  I am very proud of our team and hopefully this will lead us to being Academic All-Americans again as a team.
- We had a girl transfer in over the break.  Michaela McNeely will be adding to our team as both a setter and a rightside hitter.  We are super excited to have her here.
- Locker room upgrades continue to happen.  We have new directors chairs for each player, as well as temporary lockers until we can find the ones we really want.  Also this weekend the installers are coming to place our motivational slogans on our locker room walls.

In BIG NEWS, Hill College has decided to buld a sand volleyball court!  They have given me freedom to work with student activities to design this court exactly how it should be: top of the line equipment and sand.  Hopefully we can have this built by the end of the semester!

It's been a good semester so far.  Kelsey and I have been on the road recruiting, watching a lot of players.  We are only looking for 2 or 3 more, but we are trying to find impact people as well as players.  Recruiting is long and sometimes arduous, but it is fun.  Volleyball is a great sport and being able to see great athletes play it is always exciting.

Last weekend we were in Austin for the Tour of Texas Qualifier.  I'm also helping coach an 18's team, and in between helping that team qualify for the top bracket at the next stop, I was able to look at some unsigned players.  Plus Kelsey and I got to eat at P.F. Changs which is always great.  Love their lettuce wraps.

Until next time.