2008 Woodie Awards
Lady Celts achieve top-10 ranking
Women's volleyball team endures injury, aims for playoffs
Laura Avila
Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: Sports & Clubs
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Co-captain and senior finance major MaryAnn Shaw said that despite the team's top 10 ranking, making it to the play-offs will be a challenge.
"We are an independent team," Shaw said. "We are not qualified as a Red River Conference team, so we must win the most games possible." Shaw said that RRC-qualified teams can afford to lose some games, but UST must win every game it plays.
Fourteen teams are currently eligible for RRC membership, including Houston Baptist University and UT-Brownsville.
As a relatively new intercollegiate sport, the varsity volleyball team is trying to create a successful reputation among other NAIA teams. "Being a young team is a challenge," Shaw said. "We are trying to put our name out there."
Coach Jill Reynolds said she hopes the Lady Celts continue to succeed. "We have achieved a goal, and now we must improve our rank within NAIA schools," she said.
The team's rank advances with each win against other top-10-ranked teams. The team will compete against six more ranked teams during this season, which means it will have as many as six chances to improve its position, Reynolds said.
Co-captain, sophomore Heather Hardy, said that the team's cohesiveness will continue to improve with time. "We are a fairly new team," she said. "We are getting to know each other and learning to be able to pick up each other's weaknesses and strengths, physically and mentally."
Eight of the 10 women playing this year are freshmen or new to the team. Only Shaw and Hardy are returning members.
The new players are freshmen Casey Mulryan, Lauren Poe, Lindsey Parks, Sarah Curiel-Thompson, Courtney Johnson and Mallory Wendel; and sophomores Keanne Smith, an education major, and marketing and Spanish major Laura Welch.
"We want to establish stronger unity and create the closeness found throughout UST in our team," Hardy said. "If we create an aggressive aura, other teams will pick up on that, and we will win."