Stratford High School - Mnemosyne Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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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

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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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i ding basics by steady practice in r transition from junior to high school volleyball, freshman volleyballers ,fin- theif season with an 11-11 ng on this transition ,Freshman Autumn Landry 'We worked harder, and aches emphasized using correct basic skills and ng them. It is quite differ- in junior high because the aches don't understand the , 'The coaches imphasized using he correct basic . skills! asic techniques as well as Mrs. eVada Brimberry and Mrs. aren Martin. In junior high vol- iyball, we mainly just goofed 'oundf' Coach Martin commented, Ne had a real good group of irls, but we had to adapt them I the game that Stratford plays!! The season, however, was not wtirely devoted to work, as the arsity team members initiated ie freshman girls. The initia- n consisted of dressing the Taking a break, Coach Nevada Brim- berry and Freshman Kim Kent 121, Alli- son Kantoff, and Pam Mathews freshen up and discuss strategy. girls up, and taking them to breakfast. We decided to have some fun, and it helped us to get to know the freshmen, since we hardly ever talked to them during practice, explained Senior Rose- mary Struffilino. Autumn added, We had trou- ble playing together, expecially since we were all new to each other. In the last Northbrook game, we really pulled together and won with a common effort. During a time out, Coach Karen Martin shows statistics to Sophomore Linda Suchelob and lunior Donna Sloan 1151. il Getting ready for a set, Freshman Alli- son Kantoff f40j keeps her eye on the server. I was really getting into the game, concentrating really hard, com- mented Allison. freshman volleyball 133