PRODUCTIVE SENIORS FOR NORTH, SOUTH GLAD TO HELP COMMUNITY WITH 'VOLLEYBALL FOR THE SMALL'

From: The Tribune Star
By: Andy Amey
September 17, 2010

TERRE HAUTE - High school volleyball in Terre Haute will look a lot different in 2011, considering that five seniors at North and South who have a combined 19 years of starting experience are nearing the end of long and productive careers.

Before that happens, however, the three Patriots - Katlyn Anderson, Mary Kate Etling and Laura Mauer - and seniors Taylor Hayne and Madison Steward of the Braves will meet at least one more time and combine their talents to raise money for a good cause in the process.

The second annual "Volleyball for the Small" game is Thursday at North, its proceeds going again to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Union Hospital. Last year's event and a cancer fund-raiser when the two teams played in 2007 have drawn huge crowds and raised thousands of dollars, and next Thursday's match should do the same - in addition to being possibly the last meeting between five friends on opposite ends of town who have pretty impressive legacies.

At South, if the career totals of Hayne and Steward are identical when this season ends it probably wouldn't surprise many people. As players they are virtually identical - both 5-foot-10, both with impressive vertical jumps, both with textbook arm swings that generate fearsome power - and have shared the team's outside hitter role for four years.

"They've been [South's] offensive power for the past three years, and this year their roles have expanded," said coach Madison Minnick of the Braves earlier this week, pointing out that both players are now being used defensively as well. "They've worked hard on offense, and they're able to get to a lot of balls [on defense]."

For as much as the two Braves have contributed to their team's considerable success for four years - South's lineup has always used Hayne and Steward opposite each other, so one was always available as the outside hitter - the legacy of the North trio is impressive in a different way.

"Let me put it this way," coach Kris Painter of the Patriots said this week. "The year before [Anderson, Etling and Mauer] got here, we were 9-19. Their freshman year we were 16-12, and the last two seasons we've had record-breaking years in number of wins."

The 6-foot Etling and the 5-6 Anderson - who has some hops herself - were starters during their freshman seasons and were joined in the starting lineup by the 5-10 Mauer a year later. Etling is a dominating middle who is pretty valuable on the backline defensively too, Anderson an all-around talent and Mauer a setter with the height to make herself a threat hitting and blocking too.

"There hasn't been a class [at North] besides this one that's made such an impact," Painter said. "They didn't do it all on their own, and the other players kind of embraced them when they got here as freshmen, but these three have worked hard. They are good leaders, good role models - the best part is that they're good people."

Minnick knows the feeling.

"They are definitely going to missed [after this season]," she said of her senior duo. "They are two of the same beast, and it's been wonderful to have one of them always in the front row. There's one quiet leader [that would be Steward] and one vocal leader ["I'm the loud one," Hayne admitted] … and they work with each other and respect each other."

"We have really good chemistry on the court," Steward agreed. "We go to each other for everything."

"If Maddy is down I help her out, and if I'm down she'll help me out," Hayne said. Both players were glad to add defensive responsibilities this year too, they said, because "it's easier to be a leader when you're on the court [all the time]," as Hayne put it.

The five girls are not exactly strangers either. Thanks to club volleyball, they've played with and against each other for a lot longer than they've been at North and South.

"Frenemies," Steward said. "We've played with [the North girls] forever and when we're off the court we're like family. It's fun playing against them."

"It's exciting to see us grow up as players," Anderson said. "I think we all see playing each other in the future [as college players] too."