Stratford High School - Mnemosyne Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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g ting for the district title, Senior Ste- anie Bross 4243 spikes the ball to stchester. The Spartans fell to the ldcats, and finished second in district petition. er played real well or we didnt the Cy-Fair tournament, the team s plagued with inconsistent play, lost during the second round of consolation competition. eginning the second round of trict play, the Varsity suffered a eat by Alief Elsik, which proved e a turning point for the team. We were just beating ourselves, everybody started to think 'win', 'l the team came together, and 1 just on the court. All we had to ,was beat Westchester, and we 'ld beat anyone, explained emary. 'ln the Westchester match, each us had one game, and the final ne came down to the wire, con- .ied Rosemary. We were losing, , we had their star spiker on the ck row and someone served put four or five balls to her, they Jldn't handle them, and they lost iir confidence and unity, and we Esqueaked by. hus the Varsity ended the sec- d round as the champions, and ned a play-off berth with West- ?ster, the first-half winners. How- er, the third match with West- ster ended in defeat, Rosemary orated, We choked. During the - Ck I. ,.,. L. .. first game we had a good margin, and we slacked off. We were lucky to win that game. Then, I think we became intimidated by the crowd and the opposing players, and we began to play cautiously instead of with confidence and power, Since we had never been in this situation, it just became overbearing, and Westchester, with the two previous district crowns, became alert and dominated the rest of the match. The Varsity finished the season Nov. 14 with a TO-4 district record, and three members were named to the All-District team. Elected by the other district team coaches, the girls were: Seniors Stephanie Bross and Rosemary Struffolino, and junior lenniferWilliford, 14-fwfr W,.'vewnum.,.:..,.w.,.,,g K as 3 :fix Q - .,..,f..-.. - if From the back line, junior lennifer Wil- liford 1135 takes the first hit on the return ofserve. Vaf5lYY volleyball 131

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ethacks , retu . Teamwork the key, as Senior Rosemary Struffolino f2Zj, covered by junior jen- nifer Williford fi3j spikes the ball to Westchester in the district play-off, After a hesitant start in district competition Sept. 7, and medi- ocre play in three tournaments, var- sity volleyball took a crucial turn and finished the season in the district play-offs. It really surprised me to find us in the play-offs, since we were com- ing into the season with a new coach. I thought we would be stuck somewhere in the middle instead of coming out on top, said Rosemary Struffolino, senior. There wasn't any one thing that really motivated us to put our minds to winning and achieve the play-off berth, added Senior Rachel Hill. We just decided that this was it, and we were going to make it. The first two weeks of practice, before the initial scrimmage, were somewhat hampered by the facts that the volleyball program had two new coaches, Mrs. NeVada Brim- berry, varsity, and Mrs. Karen Mar- tin, junior varsity, and the fact that tryouts were held for all three teams, since the previous coaches had not already chosen varsity and junior varsity members. In addition, these delayed tryouts shortened the necessary pre-season period in which the individual teams established an effective line- Waiting for the serve, junior Tatiana Fri- erson U75 keeps her eye on the oppo- nents. up and rotation, which led to deciding factor, teamwork. l'm the fourth coach that tr girls have had, and it was not I the other coaches were bad. lt's that they had different philosopl than I do. It was hard for the girl play as a team for me, because! 'lt was hard fo. the girls to plaj as a team for, me.' W just hadn't gotten to know el other that well, commented Col Brimberry. Before district play, varsity parl pated in two tournaments, the C Creek Tournament and the Sp Branch Tournament. Although el inated from both tournaments Lamar Consolidated, the team itself on the winning side of bracket in both. During the first half of di play, the Spartans obtained a d -l-3 record, losing to Westc Alief Hastings, and Memorial. ju jennifer Williford summed up problem by saying, We doomed with inconsistency. 130 varsity volleyball

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Sha en ' g skill Although inexperienced, junior varsity volleyball team ended a succ esslul season with an 8-6 record and was ranked third in district competition. Mrs. Karen Martin, iv. coach said, Most of our games were really close, and we usually tended to lose them. One of the reasons was hecause of inexperience. Four ofour girls didn't play ball last year, and we had one starting freshman, lanis 'Everyone was devoted, wanted to win, and worked hard! Sloan. Sophomore Leslie Mathias com- mented, VVe had a lot of close games and I would get so nervous, but I thought the season was fun and it was much hetter than goofing off in P.E. Sophomore Lisa Sims remarked, Everybody was devoted, wanted to 132 iv volleyball Waiting for the ball, Sophomore Yasul Shimizu 173 gets in position. I enj- volleyball. There's a good team, a gofl coach, and a lot of fun, explain Yasuko. i Sitting on the sidelines, LV. Volleyb Coac Karen Martin watches the gi play. She commented, I remind thi to think about what they're doing, v leyball takes a lot of concentration. vyin, and really worked hard to achieve the success we had. Although Mrs. NeVada Brimberry and Mrs. Martin did not place as much emphasis on rolls and dives as previous coaches, Leslie Mathias commented that, lf we missed something like a serve, we had to run laps around the gym, which was hard, but I guess it helped us to become more accurate. Participating in two tournaments, Santa Fe and Spring Branch, the j.v. won second place in the Santa Fe Trying to block a spike, Sophom Linda Schucholeb C213 is backed up Yasuko Shimizu 173, and Donna Slo 1157. In this end-of-the-season ment, the l.V. captured second place. tournament, and tvvo members the team, Sophomore Yasuko Shi izu and Freshman lanis Sloan we named to the All-Tournament tear