"Joyful and determined." For Frassati Catholic High School Volleyball Coach, Katie Hoff, these two words summed up her athletes' demeanors throughout the season. "I think they genuinely wanted each other to do well," she said, commenting on the support and encouragement offered by the close-knit Falcons teams. "It wasn't a struggle to get them to care about each other, to get them to come together as a group and really want to help each other out."
This season, Frassati Catholic High School fielded two teams with a total of 23 girls participating in volleyball. The Falcons Blue team went 11-7 under Hoff highlighted by wins over The Woodlands Christian Academy JV, Covenant Christian JV, and a thrilling five-set match against Providence Classical, while the Gray team's season was highlighted by wins over The Woodlands Prep JV, Legacy Prep, and HCYA, all while establishing a culture of work, commitment, and unity throughout the season. The Blue team got off to a hot start, winning its first five games and nine of its first 12. Hoff mentioned that early on, the players bought into the mindset of team before individual: "It was never about me, it was always 'how can
we be better'."
A strong sense of team unity allowed the Falcons to effectively confront a number of challenges throughout the season. "We had a big freshman group coming in, some who had played elsewhere, some who had never played," said Hoff. While learning new skills and rotations, the Falcons showed tremendous determination in getting better every practice and every game. With increased experience as the season wore on, the team's confidence grew as well. "Confidence from the beginning to the end of the season was the biggest thing that changed," said Hoff.
Hoff and the Falcons will face a new set of challenges next season as they will play a full varsity schedule for the first time: "Next season is going to be very exciting, because we are going to compete at the varsity level, even with just juniors," said Hoff. They will be the first Frassati Catholic team to play a varsity district schedule. In preparation for next season, Hoff is already thinking about ways for the team to improve: "I want to be able to do team-building in addition to practices. I think that will build into the idea of using every aspect of the school to build up their spiritual side as well."
Preparation for next season will begin in the summer of 2015, said Hoff: "There are a lot of things that a varsity team should be able to do that we'll have a lot of time to work on, in the summer and at the beginning of next season."
About Frassati Catholic High School:Founded in 2013, Frassati Catholic High School serves the families and parishes in the north Houston area of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Administered by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation, Frassati Catholic High School prepares students to walk on the path of true happiness through a robust college-preparatory curriculum rooted in the Catholic faith. The school currently serves freshman and sophomore students, and will add a grade in each of the next two years. For more information about Frassati Catholic High School, contact Mr. Kyle Smith, director of communications, at 832-616-3227. For more information about the A Foundation for the Future
Capital Campaign, contact Mrs. Nell Schell, campaign coordinator, at 832-616-3233.
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For additional athletics information, visit the Frassati Falcons Athletics Portal:
bit.ly/YEqJGb