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 Meet the 2007 Calallen High School Volleyball Lady Wildcats. |
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Newspaper Article Credit: Stuart Duncan, Corpus Christi, Caller-times.
CALALLEN WILDCATS With four returning starters from last year's Region IV-4A semifinalist team, the Wildcats are primed for another run at the Class 4A state tournament this season.
Calallen is encouraged by the way it took the first game (by the score of 25-8) in that regional semifinal match from eventual Class 4A state finalist Cedar Park Vista Ridge, before Wildcats starting setter Courtney Oertli suffered a partially collapsed lung during Game 2 and missed the rest of the match, which was won by Vista Ridge.
"We use what happened in that game and say, 'We can play with the best of them,'" said Calallen volleyball coach Lupe Cardona, who became a grandmother recently. "We just have to stay focused on what we want. We've been in the regional semifinal game seven (times) and we want to get past it. That's our ultimate goal right now -- to get over that hump."
This could be the year the Wildcats do just that. The defending District 31-4A champions have nine seniors that gained valuable experience from last year's team, which posted a school record 32-4 mark and was ranked in the Top 14 in the state (14th), for the first time ever.
Senior starters Oertli and MB/S Kelsey Schwirtlich -- who are being heavily recruited by several Division I schools -- return, as do two-sport senior standouts MB Angela Hook (who also plays softball) and OH Amanda Haven (basketball).
Cardona said freshman OH December "Demi" Holladay, sophomore OH Cassie Tripp and junior OH Jackie Matula will vie for the two remaining starting spots this season, as will five defensive players, which includes senior defensive specialists Kelsey Ferguson and Colter Tope.
"There's a lot of pressure on us (the players) put a lot of pressure on themselves as it is," Cardona said. "I tell them to take it one game at a time but it's hard because these girls have that dream to go to state. My job is to keep them focused on what's happening right now. We have to work up to the playoffs first."
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