Friday, Oct. 10, 2008

Sister act spelling success for Lady Indians

Keller Volleyball

By TIMM MCDONALD

Keller volleyball coach Sylvia Ortiz describes the season to her players as two tournaments — a home tournament and an away tournament. With that focus through district play, the Lady Indians are starting to see the playoffs as a reality.

Keller Central had climbed all the way to a top-10 area ranking until they ran into the Lady Indians. Keller beat Central in four games 3-1 on Friday to close out a solid week that also included a brilliant deconstruction of L.D. Bell.

On Tuesday, Keller defeated Colleyville Heritage 3-2. With Colleyville Heritage starting to separate from the pack, the Lady Indians may have done themselves a huge favor by playing the Lady Panthers well at home to start the week. They are set up for success the rest of the way as long as they take care of business against the lower half of the district.

Key games coming up include hosting second place Justin Northwest and a home game against Euless Trinity before closing the season out on the road against Bell and Central.

This year, things are coming together a little later than preferred, but a big part of the team’s success is the sense of camaraderie these players have developed, feeling as though they were under-respected in the rankings and knowing that they have the talent to prove people wrong, Ortiz said. A big part of that talent base is the combination of right and left side outside hitters, Cassie and Sadie Whalin.

The sisters were actually in competition for playing time early in the year, but with Cassie showing tremendous energy and talent and her sister playing at a Division-I recruit level, Ortiz had to find a way to get both players on the floor.

Raleen Whalin, the girls’ proud mother, pointed out just how hard that situation was initially for both of her daughters, and said, in a tone of relief, "Coach Ortiz did a great job of working it out so that they could get both of them on court at the same time."

Cassie is a sophomore this year, but her older sister is a senior and is very excited about the interest the University of Utah has shown in her abilities.

Sadie commented about how the challenges of competing with her sister, and then getting the opportunity to play at the same time, have added to the team’s success, saying, "After the Trinity game [a win], we all really started pulling things together."

She pointed out that one of the biggest reasons the team has been able to bond and play so well together is that they have a major talent in Emily Tennison at the setter position.

"She has the most passion for the sport of anyone out here … she wasn’t feeling great today but still came out and played well." That respect for Tennison has grown stronger and stronger as the two players have been playing club and UIL volleyball together since the sixth grade.

Tennison’s leadership ability is evident on the court, as she obviously has a lot of confidence in her middle and outside hitters. Even while playing under duress, Tennison was able to distribute the ball to a high-flying Ashley Anderson and Taylor Poole, along with the Whalin sisters. Feeding on the setter’s energy, there’s also a great deal of effort in games from Indians defensive specialist Jordyn Fuller.

In the win over L.D. Bell in three decisive games, the only weakness was a tendency to lose concentration and commit service errors. Without the service errors, the match would have been far more lopsided, but the Keller team seems to be peaking at the right time.