ESPNHS Volleyball

By Cosy Burnett

Cosy Burnett is a junior outside and opposite hitter at La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad, Calif.) who also plays for Coast Volleyball Club in San Diego, Calif. Her high school team competed in the state finals for Division II last season and she has competed at nationals five times with her club teams. In the latest installment of her blog, she explains how to prepare for your junior year.

I had no idea how crazy junior year would be. It’s a tough year for academics, you’re busy with community service, weight training, practices, tournaments and, oh yes, recruiting!

Making a decision on college is, for many of us, our biggest decision yet. I was buried one week last month, taking my math final, studying for the SAT that Saturday, preparing for a tournament that weekend while still fitting in two recruiting trips. AAHHHHHH!!

I thought it would be great to write a blog on the things I wish I had known prior to my junior year. You can do so many things as a freshman or sophomore to maximize your options and reduce stress as a junior. As volleyball recruits, we need to do things on a different timeline from our peers, so get educated and get started.

Make academics a priority
You start high school with a clean slate, so why not go ahead and decide your freshman year to be a 4.0 student and see how close you get? We learn to manage our time with practices and training, so it’s natural to fit in time to study as well. It’s sad when academics keep an athlete out of her dream school, so be sure to keep your options open. Start taking the SAT/ACT early and take it as many times as you can. Scores should improve each time, and your top college choice as a junior may require high scores. Register with the NCAA clearinghouse as a freshman and talk to your counselor so she knows you need to meet the NCAA requirements. I know a girl who played for a junior college because she didn’t take the courses she needed in high school to qualify for a Division I scholarship.

Contact schools early
Start calling and emailing colleges your freshman year. Don’t pester them, but let them know you are interested in their school and fill out their questionnaires so they have your information on file. If it’s a school with high academic standards, the assistant coach is happy to talk to you about what grades/scores you need to get into the school. It’s good to know this early before you have blown it.

Visit colleges
I started making unofficial visits as a freshman. It seemed so early at the time, but it proved to be a great idea. By the time you are a junior, finding free weekends for school visits is challenging. It helped me to catch a vision of what’s possible and motivated me to work hard in school and practice.

Market yourself
Schools need to see you play. Make sure you let them know when your team is headed to a big tournament. If your team doesn’t play nationally, try out for a USA Volleyball High Performance team. The tryout alone is great exposure, and many college coaches are there.

You want to be the “full package” by the time you are a junior. Work hard now and you’ll get there!

Read the previous installment of Cosy's blog – how she chose BYU – here.

By Walter Villa

Abbie Magrini has a message for players who get injured and need surgery: Do your research.

Magrini, a 5-foot-6 senior libero for Mahomet-Seymour (Mahomet, Ill.) who has yet to commit to a college, has had two major operations on her right knee. She said the first one did not go well, which caused her to become much more involved in the selection of her second surgeon.

“It’s my life, my knee and my future,” Magrini said, explaining why she took charge.

Magrini said she went so far as to interview patients in the waiting rooms of the doctors she was considering.

Her research led her to Dr. K. Donald Shelbourne, who is based in Indianapolis and is an orthopedic team physician for Purdue.

Magrini said Shelbourne took the patella tendon from her left knee and inserted it into her right knee.

After the surgery was complete, Magrini said her knee felt better immediately. That’s in stark contrast to the first surgery, when her knee never felt quite right.

“Since I had surgery on both knees, they felt balanced,” Magrini said. “My recovery was even. Both knees got stronger at the same time.”

Before getting hurt, Magrini was a rising star, setting a Champaign-area record with 611 digs in 2009, her sophomore year. But she tore her anterior cruciate ligament playing club ball for Prime Time when she collided with a teammate in the winter of 2010.

She came back after only seven months but injured her ACL again, almost immediately, causing her to miss her junior season of high school.

Now Magrini’s story appears headed for a happy ending. She had 342 digs as a senior -- her statistics were down only because her blockers were not allowing as many balls to get past them -- and played in a state all-star match featuring 36 of the best players in Illinois.

Magrini, who is interested in playing for Indiana University East, an NAIA school in Richmond, Ind., also has an academic major she’d liked to pursue.

“I want to study sports medicine,” Magrini said, “and one day work for Dr. Shelbourne.”

Final Four is set

The NCAA women’s volleyball Final Four is set, with UCLA, Southern Cal, Florida State and Illinois headed to San Antonio. Action begins Thursday.

Florida State, which will make its first Final Four appearance, is a big story, but so, too, are some of the teams that did not make it, including reigning four-time champ Penn State and top-seeded Texas.

Outside hitter Paulina Prieto of Palmer Trinity (Palmetto Bay, Fla.), who will join Penn State’s roster in January, said she was confident the Nittany Lions could win their fifth straight.

“I thought Coach (Russ) Rose would pull something out like always,” Prieto said. “But I guess this was a rebuilding year.

“Maybe this will be a wake-up call for us as players. It just shows that even when you have four national titles in your back pocket, you can’t chill. You have to keep working.”

Star watch

Outside hitter Maya McClendon, a 6-0 junior at DuPont Manual (Louisville, Ky.), is a player to watch this club season. She is the younger sister of Penn State star Deja McClendon and plays for the KIVA club team.

Ron Kordes, who coaches KIVA’s 14-U team, said McClendon’s 17-U club should be the organization’s strongest this season.

Deja McClendon, by the way, made All-Big Ten first team last month after being named National Freshman of the Year the previous season.

Walter Villa


Alexa Strange is multi-talented.

The 6-foot senior setter/hitter at San Clemente (Calif.) has earned a scholarship to play for Nebraska and is interested in studying medicine. But she can make you laugh, too.

Asked if she has a nickname, Strange chuckled.

“With a name like mine, it’s not really necessary,” said Strange, who has an American-born father and a mother born in India. “They call me ‘Stranger Danger.’ But I’m going to be a doctor. Can you imagine? Dr. Strange?

“Hopefully, I get married before I start my profession. But I have to be careful because my last name will become my middle name. If I marry a guy with a last name ‘Hair,’ I’d be Alexa Strange-Hair.

“Most girls are interested in a guy’s looks. I look at his name.”

For now, though, Alexa is making the Strange name proud. She is part of the U.S. Youth National Team’s beach volleyball program, playing mostly with Southern Cal recruit Cinnamon Sary of Newport Harbor (Newport Beach, Calif.).

Strange said she prefers the beach game but is thrilled to get the chance to play indoors at Nebraska, where coach John Cook seems to already have an appreciation for her versatility.

“She is left-handed, and we are counting on her to contribute as a freshman,” Cook said on Huskers.com. “Alexa is what we’re going to call a utility player. She can play outside hitter, left or right side. She is strong in the back row, has a wicked arm and a high volleyball IQ.

“But her greatest strength may be her competitive fire.”

And there is nothing strange about that.

Green makes Texas history

Is there any team Julie Green can’t take to a championship?

After coaching Lake Travis (Austin, Texas) to a 2010 Class 4A state title, Green led Coppell (Coppell, Texas) to the 5A crown earlier this month.

Green became the first volleyball coach in Texas history to win two straight state titles with two different schools.

In an added twist, neither school had won state before Green arrived.

“Each championship is different, and each group of girls is different,” Green said. “But this one is very special.”

In order to win a third straight state title, Green – assuming she stays at Coppell – will have to replace four seniors.

The graduating players are state finals MVP and 6-4 middle blocker Kierra Holst, setters Bear Bass and Sarah Arnold and defensive specialist Kristin Dickerson.

But several key members of this year’s state title team are set to return, including Megan Kennedy, Cassidy Pickrell, Kylie Pickrell, Chiaka Ogbogu, Erica Bohannon and Kate Dicken.

Like father, like daughter

Katie George, a 5-10 senior setter for Assumption (Louisville, Ky.), signed with Louisville earlier this month and figures to make a seamless transition. That’s because her high school coach, Ron Kordes, is the father of her soon-to-be college coach, Anne Kordes.

As a junior, George committed to play for Anne Kordes at Saint Louis. But when the coach got hired at Louisville, George decided to follow her and play for the Cardinals.

George said she looks forward to playing college ball in front of her hometown fans and plans to study communications.

“I want to be a field reporter for ESPN like Erin Andrews,” said George, who is a sports columnist for her high school newspaper. “I love college football.”

NCAA tournament

Of the 10 seniors who earned 2010 ESPNHS first-team All-America honors, nine of them will be competing in the NCAA tournament, which begins Thursday.

Four of those players are on seeded teams: Haley Eckerman (No. 1 Texas); Aiyana Whitney (No. 8 Penn State); Megan Moenoa (No. 9 UCLA); and Tiffany Baker (No. 14 Tennessee).

Also getting their first taste of the NCAA postseason will be Krista Vansant of Washington; Christina Higgins and Lillian Schonewise of Cal; Kori Moster of Michigan State; and Chloe Mathis of Arizona.

The only All-American who did not get to the NCAA tournament was Jeni Houser of Notre Dame. Houser, though, had a strong season as a freshman starter.