The John Cooper School Girls’ Varsity Volleyball Team 2019 PREVIEW

THE WOODLANDS, TX -- The John Cooper School - The Woodlands Girls’ Varsity Volleyball Team 2019 PREVIEW

Comments from Coach Ray Hedden, who begins his fourth season coaching at Cooper.

The Season

Every year a team starts having to find their identity. This year we walk in with a good mix of defense and offense. After graduating four starters last year, we knew we would be a young group this year. That means we had to come in, find the chemistry early and learn how to win with different players on the court. Offensively we are a better team, having improved our play at the net and adding some dynamic athletes to the roster. We also do a phenomenal job defensively, playing with a high volleyball IQ and out-hustling most teams, which makes us a difficult team to play. I think we will frustrate a lot of opponents.

Goals
I am really excited for this season! I want to refocus our efforts around defense and ball control while not losing our touch with effort, teamwork and fundamentals. The girls have done a good job so far concentrating on those areas. After finishing third and first in our past two tournaments, I am very happy with both the varsity and JV teams executing on those directions. We see the effort, teamwork and fundamentals in place from last year and building stronger this year. The varsity and JV teams have a lot of new faces who bring a new energy, which makes coaching them a ton of fun. They have always been a fun group, but this year seems to have more edge to them. I think we will make a run at the title again this year as long as we keep building and improving.

Varsity Roster

This year’s squad consists of returning members Anna Claire Adam, Hailey Huettel, Lauren Harkness, Tatum Threadgill, Olivia Overbeek, Laura Weatherford and Jenna Braun.

We have added Cooper newcomers Amaya Harrell, Valerie McKeever, Gretchen Godwin, Amy Van Der Linden, Gracie Minarovic, Yasmin Sebastiany, Rivers Kolesar and Lauren Wolford.



2019 Dragon Roster

1 Jenna Braun Junior

2 Gracie Minarovic Freshman

4 Olivia Overbeek Junior

5 Lauren Harkness Junior

6 Amaya Harrell Junior

7 Gretchen Godwin Junior

8 Hailey Huettel Senior

9 Anna Claire Adam Senior

10 Rivers Kolesar Freshman

11 Lauren Wolford Sophomore

12 Amy Van der Linden Sophomore

13 Yasmin Sebastiany Senior

14 Laura Weatherford Sophomore

15 Valerie McKeever Senior

17 Tatum Threadgill Sophomore




2018 Team Accomplishments

Season Record: 24-11

SPC Record: 2-4
SPC Tournament: 2-1

SPC Championship: 9th place

SPC Zone Rank: 5th

CHSM Tournament Champions

Coaches

Head Coach – Ray Hedden

Assistant Coaches –Jennifer Peyton and Katie Henry


Coach Contact Information
Ray Hedden
Head Volleyball Coach
cell 281-772-3147 • rhedden@johncooper.org