During the last several weeks of the regular season, I
began to notice something around the gym and on campus. I was having far more truly meaningful
interchanges with coaches, players, parents and other fans in general. A season was winding down and that meant that
athletes that who had poured years of themselves into this wonderful sport were
winding down the year and winding down entire careers. It's a strange combination of human emotion
to feel celebration, transition, finality and yes, even a sense of loss, all
wrapped up together.
Some of the blurbs below were written before the 2017
Southland Conference Tournament began.
Some were written in my head a while back and actually typed out during
the tournament and a few of them were created in early mornings or on late
nights during the weekend in Corpus Christi.
The meaningful interchanges this weekend have continued. I've had some great professional
conversations with the folks I work with from the Southland Conference. Following practice on
Thursday, I got to walk to the bus with Debbie Humphreys while having such a
spirit of camaraderie in the discussion.
Of course, the many interactions with coaches and players are always so
energizing and uplifting to me.
But what blows me away - I mean just totally blows me
away - is when a parent or relative of a player just walks up to me and
introduces themselves. Or, in the case
of a few instances this weekend, they reintroduce themselves and share a
moment of thanks and reflection on my coverage or attention shown their team or
athlete. The sincerity and kindness that
I so much don't deserve is so humbling and meaningful and this weekend it has
been non-stop. I've met so many new
people and had so many positive interchanges about volleyball. I am grateful
for each of these conversations and the willingness of others to
encourage. Someone asked me yesterday
the age old question: "Why do you
do this?" I couldn't field an easier
question to reply to. Passion manifests
itself in commitment. Life is better
when it's not about you. Your accomplishments
are NEVER, and I mean NEVER, diminished when you cast attention on the
accomplishments of others. The game is
big enough and there is enough joy to go around. With all these stories to tell, how could I
NOT do this? This sport, this league,
these schools and these athletes need stories told for them. Life's better with stories!
So, for the third year now, I give you ten (plus one) vignettes
in honor of our 2017 Seniors around the Southland Conference. In most cases, I've included a link to a
conversation that I've been fortunate to have with them. These athletes are listed in alphabetical
order by their last names.
Bailey Banks (HBU)
The athleticism just flows from Banks and she plays as though it is
effortless. Arguably, when you look over
her 2017 numbers she had a good a season as any outside hitter in the league.
Considering all games played this season, she was tied for 3rd in kills per
set, 6th in attack percentage, tied for 2nd in digs per set and tied for 6th in
blocks per set among all outside hitters.
No other player at her position ranked in the top 6 in all four of those
categories. Banks was part of a
formidable front line at HBU for many years and was one of those players that
could single handedly control a match. She won Newcomer of the Year in her
sophomore season and continued to pile up honors during her final two years on
the court including finishing runner-up to Player of the Year Samantha Anderson
this year in the league voting. I'll
always remember that during her junior season I got to do an interview with her
outside Sharp Gym on the day that the Huskies were having a team pumpkin
carving contest. The league loses a few
heavy arms this year and Banks is right there at the top of the list. HBU had a TON of players that I have long admired graduate this year (keep reading) and so I'll truly miss
getting to witness Banks skills.
Lexus Cain (SFA)
The Ladyjacks lone senior. But oh, what an impact Lexus made on the
league and on SFA. If not for Kate
Klepetka at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Cain would have some Libero of the
Year plaques hanging on her walls for years to come. But you know, the ever humble Cain never
openly seemed bothered by that. Lexus is so articulate and soft spoken. She always deflected praise to her teammates
and coaches and it would be absolutely impossible to come away from a set of
conversations with her without being impressed. Because her personality wasn't flashy, I
took it upon myself a few times on social media to really start lobbying for
more attention to be thrown her way. She
so deserves it. She finishes 5th all
time at SFA in total digs and that is saying something given we are basically
Libero University. You don't play Libero
at SFA for three years unless you are a ridiculously good defender. I'm just going to say it because it's true: Our standards for that position are higher
than most other teams. Stephanie
Figgers, Maddie Hanlan, OJ Olson. Go look them up. Without any question, SFA has had the most
consistently dominant set of back row players in the Southland over the last 10-15
years. Cain fits in with that group
perfectly. One of the things that I'll
always be so proud of Lexus for is really stepping up in her final few matches
for SFA. Down the stretch in 2017, Cain
was absolutely clutch. She's just 5'5",
but whoever straps on the off-colored jersey for us in 2018 and beyond has big
history to look up to. The legacy of the
libero at Stephen F. Austin was continued with Lexus on our side.
Adison Giambrone
(McNeese)
For years, the Cowgirls have had athletes that haven't
garnered the limelight of the conference's attention but that have some
intangible quantity that makes them such a pleasure to follow. During the
years, I've found a few from McNeese to follow: Nicole Bowden, Sarah Cartie, Malina
Sanchez, Priscilla Massengale, and Kelly Graham, just to name a few. Add another unsung hero to the list. Giambrone always got the absolute best out
the vessel that God gave her. Setter,
DS, Libero. McNeese was able to shift
and slide her around to fit whatever need they had for a particular stretch of
games. This year, they decided she
should tag team with Alexandra Aguilera at setter and she adjusted back once
again. Hustle. Aggressiveness. All with an infectious smile. I love it when athletes "play happy"
and Giambrone radiated this sense of postiveness and encouragement to teammates
every time I saw her play. I am happy to
highlight her contributions here. Many of
the names on this list won multiple honors, but teams are what count. I am sure that Ashleigh Fitzgerald would take
a team full of Adison Giambrone's in the future. It's not always what's on the stat sheet that
counts. Another thing you need to know:
She graduated cum laude from McNeese before her senior season and has been
working on her MBA since. Stop and think
about that for a while. Division 1
athlete. Master's program. You know what you are looking at here? Someone primed for lifelong success. When McNeese has the tournament run that ACU
has had in 2017 - and its coming - don't forget about the example provided and
road paved by players like Adison Giambrone.
Blair Gillard
(HBU)
What am I supposed to do now? Some players have a defining set of moments
that just immediately draw you into following their careers. Pretty much EVERYONE that reads even casually
here or that has had league-focused discussions with me over the last few years
knows that Gillard was essentially my favorite non-SFA player in the
conference. Here is the defining moment:
October 11, 2014. In route to going undefeated in league play, SFA
sweeps HBU in Houston. This was the
first radio broadcast I had done from Sharp Gym. HBU trots out this energetic 6'1" athletic freshman middle
blocker. I had studied up. I knew her name, but hadn't seen her play
live. At one point, Gillard teams up
with a pin blocker to stuff SFA's right side attack straight down to the
floor. I am sitting just a few feet off
the sideline calling the match and Gillard turns to celebrate the block and
lets out this fierce yell like five feet from my face. That was it.
I was hooked. "I'll have
what she's having" I remember thinking. No one could celebrate a big point like
Gillard and I totally loved it. It
wasn't all show, though. 93 blocks as a
freshman, 128 as a sophomore, 168 (you read that right) as a junior and 147 as
a senior? Are you FREAKING kidding me?
Read those numbers again. That 168 tally
in 2016 is the Southland Conference single season rally-scoring era highest
total in history. Dude. Bummer.
No more Blair Gillard? I'm heartbroken. What am I supposed to do without this pure
dominance and fierce disposition no longer on the court? It isn't fair. Gillard should be cloned, kept young and
allowed to play every year.
Brittany Gilpin
(AMCC)
Map maker. That's
what Gilpin is. Do realize how bad Texas
A&M Corpus Christi volleyball used to suck?
When they first came into the Southland they were awful. I could tell you some stories (not in this
space) of things I witnessed when the Islanders played SFA in the early days
that would make your ears burn.
Undisciplined, disorganized, chaotic.
But, Brittany Gilpin is 180 degrees opposite of all that. Disciplined.
Gifted. Organized. Intelligent. Humble.
DOMINANT. In terms of players, Gilpin
put Islander Volleyball on the map. The
program on the island is now established and well respected as opposed to
trampled on like cigarette butt thrown out on the highway from a speeding
18-wheeler. No doubt that coaches have
played a role in their transformation, but in terms of players, Brittany Gilpin
deserves the lion's share of credit.
Watch the video at the link below after Gilpin's Islanders won the 2016 SLC
Tournament. Notice her disposition,
maturity and countenance. Such a
pro. Then, take a look at when 600+ win
coach Brenda Gray can't wait to pay her respects and interjects her praise
while we are taping. It was an awesome moment. Gilpin could do it all.. score with efficiency, block,
dig, lead her teammates... everything. While discussing All-Conference possibilities with coaches and others
around the league this year I had several people tell me that even though
Gilpin might not repeat at Player of the Year in 2017 that if they were
drafting players from Southland schools to start a team that she and teammate
Kristyn Nicholson would be their first two
picks. That says a lot. There was not a
single time - not one time - that I wasn't impressed with how Brittany Gilpin
carried herself around the court - win or lose.
Corrine Grandcolas
(ACU)
I'm writing this player memory a few hours before the championship game of the 2017 SLC Tournament. I had never met Corrine Grandcolas until
yesterday. Yep. Yesterday.
She's the bonus "11th" player on this list that traditionally has had ten seniors on it. Rarely, very rarely, you talk to someone for the first
time for 10 minutes and they just completely catch you off guard with how
impressive they are. I cannot recall in nine years of writing at this blog ever talking to a non-SFA player
and hearing what I heard yesterday. Grandcolas was so poignant, so humble, so
articulate, so mature, so full of gratitude, so impressive that she had to be a
postscript on this list. I've known her
name since she was a freshman. I read all the player bios in the conference
every year. But yesterday, I got a
glimpse of a person. Not a bio. Not a
stat sheet that I am so fond of. An individual. A quality one. It didn't take years of playing volleyball to
make me a Corrine Grandcolas fan. It
took ten minutes sitting at a table in a hotel lobby. Her interview will be the moment I treasure
the most in this tournament. Without her
knowing it, listening to her healed part of the hurt that has been in my brain
and heart since SFA drove home and I once again was left at the tournament
without my team to root for.
Megan Nash (UCA)
Doesn't it feel like Megan Nash has been at UCA
forever? Like Cain and Grandcolas above,
Nash is the only senior on her club. The
Canadian who found her way to Conway, Arkansas of all places has been a fixture
in the UCA lineup all four years in uniform.
Along with Gilpin, Nicholson and Wooten, she was one of only four three-time
All-Southland Conference honorees that we had this year. Nash's three honors were all first team
selections. She won the prestigious 2015 Southland Conference Student Athlete
of the Year Award. She has averaged over
100 blocks a season during her four year tenure. Probably the most impressive
thing about Nash is that everyone knows her.
Yes, Anderson won Player of the Year this year, but when I asked other
coaches about how to strategize about UCA, the first person they talk about is
Nash. That's because she's so consistent and so respected. Other players watch
and emulate her. Did you hear Madeleine
Doud (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) in the interview we did during the 2017 tournament? She referenced "watching Nash all the
time". I've heard that countless
times while talking to players. It's
quite possible that she is the most respected senior on this entire list in
terms of her longevity and ability to play at a high level so
consistently. When I sat down to make a
list of seniors that I was going to write about for this post, Megan Nash's
name was the first player I wrote down.
It's a big deal when an outside hitter tallies 1000 kills for a
career. Going into the championship
match in the 2017 tournament, Nash - as a middle blocker - had 847 kills for
her career. That couples with 429
blocks, 112 aces and over 1200 total points to cement her as one of the
greatest middle blockers in recent Southland history.
Kristyn Nicholson
(AMCC)
Quite succinctly,
one of the best setters in the history of the Southland Conference. I've been following SLC Volleyball since
1999, but more seriously since I began working for our club in 2006. With my own two eyes, I am certain that
Nicholson is one of the Top 4 setters I have ever seen represent the Southland
Conference. JJ Jones (SFA), Marissa Collins
(UCA) and Adrienne Meengs (Lamar) are the other three that just jump into my
mind. Since Meengs, no setter I have ever seen was a better attacker than
Nicholson. Nicholson was credited with
467 total attacks this season - that's 3rd on her club. Her count of 179 kills for the year was more
than twice the tally of the average starting setter in the conference. Skilled at short, quick sets, accurate as a
bullet with traditional pin sets, beautiful back sets to the right, laser
accurate shoots, on the run, standing still, overhead, bump sets..... it didn't
matter. Nicholson literally had no
deficiencies in terms of getting her attackers the ball. I heard about her when she was senior in high
school. A former SFA player that was
coaching club texted me about her coming to AMCC. Before watching her play for
the first time, I went back to that former SFA player and ask: Is she really that good? I am going to cover the match and am studying
the Freshmen". All I heard on the
other end of the phone was laughter.
"Just watch" I was told.
I did. Some athletes just
instantly strike you with their talent.
For four years, Kristyn Nicholson impressed and impressed and impressed.
Jordyn Vaughn (Sam
Houston)
You know those big ice lockers that are out in front of
every convenience store where you can just reach in and grab a bag of ice for
your party and then go inside and pay at the counter? Due to the massive number of attacks she rung up, I'll bet that's what Jordyn Vaughn asks for at
Christmas. "Vaughn's Convenience
Store and Ice Shack". It has a nice
ring to it.. as in.. "we will conveniently carve you up with 20 kill
nights and send you crying back home on the bus". Vaughn needs the ice locker because she's
AVERAGED just shy of 1000 attacks per year.
I knew she hit a ton, but when I figured out that she finishes her
career with 3977 total attacks I was aghast.
That's an average of 994 attacks per season for four years. The Bearkats have pretty much always had big
arms in their lineup and Vaughn's 1000+ career kills permanently etch her name
into SHSU legacy. Considering the entire 2017 season, Vaughn led all Southland
players in kills per set and is one of only three hitters this year to amass
over 400 kills. She upped her kill count every year while playing in orange. During the year, I'd chuckle when talking
about the Bearkat offense. Most teams
run a "5-1" or "6-2" offense and I'd always say that Sam
Houston ran a "3-1" offense referring to Vaughn, Brooke White and
Taylor Cunningham. as those three totaled exactly 3000 of the 4004 Bearkat
attacks this season. Then again, it's
one thing to score. It's another thing
to score when the other team knows exactly where it is going. What a
player. Vaughn will henceforth order
every drink at a restaurant in her life with extra ice. Congratulations on an awesome career,
Jordyn. You carried the torch of great
attackers at Sam Houston with dignity and grace.
Brooke White (Sam
Houston)
Of course, White and Vaughn are alphabetically next to
each other on this list. What else would
you expect? The "stat twins"
are inseparable. White and Vaughn put up
numbers so similar that they even tallied their 1000th career kill in the same
match. In 2016, White and Vaughn were so alike that both their kill and error
totals were each separated by just 13.
Freaky! They BOTH went over 400
kills in that year and White continued to add to her stellar resume in
2017. White is really strong. Her muscular frame allowed her to just
absolutely rip balls from anywhere on the floor. That's something that I'll always remember
about her. She was never afraid to let
it fire at full force from well behind the 10-foot line. In addition, White was
an excellent floor defender. In her
final match she reached 1000 digs for her career. The duo of 1000 kills and 1000 digs had only
been done 13 (there's that number again!) times previously in Bearkat history. I'll never forget the first time I saw White
play live. Once or twice a year, if SFA
doesn't have a home game that I need to work, I'll drive to another SLC school
close to Nacogdoches to watch a match.
SHSU was playing Northwestern State during Brooke's freshman year. I was there to watch Devaney Wells-Gibson and
Stacey DiFrancesco go head-to-head. That
night, both those girls hit under .100 and this 5'8" freshman for Sam
Houston was tearing it up hitting .375 and putting down double figure
kills. I turned to the couple sitting
down the row from me and asked "Who is that #12?" Wouldn't you know it - it was her parents! White's Mom kindly replied with her name and
that she belonged to them. We got into a
short conversation and I drove away that night thinking 'Thank You God' for keeping
me from asking the question in the way that surfaced in my head - which was
"How in Hades is this short girl freshman scoring so much against this big
front line?" Eventually, I answered
my own question by watching White play through the years. Some years ago, I used to tease Brenda Gray about her then two
headed offensive monster duo Carli Kolbe and Anna Ferguson. When writing, I called it the
"Annacarli" as a play on the word "anaconda". There is a story in the Bible in Joshua 3
about "Crossing the River Jordan".
In the most non-sacrilegious way possible, I say we amend the name a bit
and remember this duo at Sam Houston as "Crossing the Brooke Jordyn"
in honor of all the crossing shots that found the floor during the last four
years.
Jessica Wooten
(HBU)
I am so glad that Wooten came back for her Senior season
after missing all of last year with an injury.
It gave all of us the chance to see her complete skill set one more
time. Wooten was truly the definition of
"6-rotation player". Here's a
stat you didn't know from 2017. Considering
all games played, Wooten led all outside hitters in the conference in BOTH digs
per set (3.54) and blocks per set (0.53).
On a team that saw Bailey Banks tally over 400 kills, Wooten was still
able to finish 7th among all outside hitters in kills per set at right at three
per frame. I've made a big deal in this
post about the 1000 kill plateau for outside hitters. Wooten almost got to 1500! Wooten's total of 1467 kills and 1373 digs is
just flat out insane. That combination
of digs and kills is far and away the highest combined total of any senior
leaving the conference this year. Despite
all the honors and awards during her years in Houston, I still tend to think
she is underrated. Let's just repeat
this for emphasis: In Wooten you have a
six rotation player that amassed over 2800 combined kills and digs and in her
senior year blocked at higher rate than any other outside hitter. Yesterday, in the semifinal loss to
Cinderella ACU, she posted 30 digs in four sets. If the Southland Conference put out its own
"Volleyball Dictionary" and you looked up "six rotation
outside", there'd be Wooten's bio
photo in the margin.
In addition to those mentioned above, the following list rounds out the 27 seniors that played in the Southland Conference this year:
HBU: Hailey Erickson and Laura Fox
UIW: Hope Kelley, Sarea Alexander, Madison Williams and Bryaunea Hall
Lamar: Amy Hollowell and Haley Morton
McNeese: Rae Myers and Jenny D'Alessandro
UNO: Rondolyn Bryant
Nicholls: Emily Weimer, Stephanie Tobison and Sydney Lerille
Northwestern State: Kylie Spencer
AMCC: Madeleine Doud
Congrats to all of the above for your dedication and perseverance.
...and special congrats to SFA's redshirt-junior that is an academic senior and finishes her career at SFA: Sam Rodriguez.. so glad we got to honor Sam at "Senior Day".