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Ogwumike named Sun Player of the Year
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| Cy-Fair junior middle blocker Chiney Ogwumike is the 2008 Sun Volleyball Player of the Year |
By Michael Sudhalter
The Cy-Fair High volleyball team was not expected to win its fifth consecutive district championship this season.
The Bobcats returned just one player from a team that reached the state semifinals in 2007, and they had to contend with a dominant Cy Woods team that swept them early in the 2008 season.
Cy-Fair’s lone returner, junior middle blocker Chiney Ogwumike, keyed the Bobcats’ upset of Cy Woods in the second meeting between the teams. The Bobcats and Wildcats shared the Class 5A-District 15 championship, and Cy-Fair (30-12) reached the second round of the playoffs where it lost to The Woodlands.
Ogwumike’s leadership and effort on the court earned her Sun Volleyball Player of the Year honors.
“I came in with no expectations,” Ogwumike said. “I knew we had to work hard in order to achieve what we could. I was surprised and proud of our team and our high school for pushing us through the playoffs, and I was really excited with where we got.”
“Nobody expected us to take that title, and that made it even better. It was great to see a whole new team built up from almost nothing.”
The 6-foot-3 Ogwumike said tradition was an important motivator for the squad.
“It was important since this was a rebuilding year,” Ogwumike said. “We needed to try our best and defend what our other players had done. We played super-hard and it’s an honor to share that (title) with Cy Woods.”
Cy-Fair volleyball coach Donna Benotti expected great things from Ogwumike, a team co-captain who often served as a coach on the floor.
“She’s an amazing leader,” Benotti said. “Each night before the game, she’d motivate the kids and prepare the kids, keep the kids calm and focused on the big picture.”
“She played amazing, she just stepped up. She knew how important that (Cy Woods) match was and she raised her level of play up and our kids raised up right there with her.”
Ogwumike, 16, is also a standout basketball player and the only returning starter from a Class 5A state champion squad. As the team’s center, she’s had to go from a supporting role to that of a go-to player.
She’s the only Cy-Fair athlete to play both sports at the varsity level this season.
Ogwumike’s older sister, Nneke, starred on last season’s championship team as a center, earning 2007-08 National Gatorade Player of the Year honors. She’s now playing basketball for perennial power Stanford University.
Ogwumike isn’t sure whether she’ll play basketball or volleyball at the next level, only saying that she’s going to “keep my options open.”
She’s already looking forward to leading the Bobcats to their sixth straight district championship next fall.
“We try even no matter what circumstances are,” Ogwumike said. “I think Bobcat Fight Never Dies means keep trying, keep perservering, stay positive and keep up the Bobcat tradition. I’m going to try to play as hard as I can and be the best teammate I can and have a great senior year and do as well as I can in volleyball.”
All-Sun Volleyball Team
Outside hitter - Hayley Koop, Klein junior
Outside hitter - Kendall Cleveland, Cy Falls senior
Middle blocker - Allyson Judkins, Jersey Village senior
Middle blocker - Desiree Elliott, Cy Woods junior
Setter - Caleigh McCorquodale, Cy Woods senior
Libero - Sindhu Vegesana, Klein Oak sophomore
The Bobcats returned just one player from a team that reached the state semifinals in 2007, and they had to contend with a dominant Cy Woods team that swept them early in the 2008 season.
Cy-Fair’s lone returner, junior middle blocker Chiney Ogwumike, keyed the Bobcats’ upset of Cy Woods in the second meeting between the teams. The Bobcats and Wildcats shared the Class 5A-District 15 championship, and Cy-Fair (30-12) reached the second round of the playoffs where it lost to The Woodlands.
Ogwumike’s leadership and effort on the court earned her Sun Volleyball Player of the Year honors.
“I came in with no expectations,” Ogwumike said. “I knew we had to work hard in order to achieve what we could. I was surprised and proud of our team and our high school for pushing us through the playoffs, and I was really excited with where we got.”
“Nobody expected us to take that title, and that made it even better. It was great to see a whole new team built up from almost nothing.”
The 6-foot-3 Ogwumike said tradition was an important motivator for the squad.
“It was important since this was a rebuilding year,” Ogwumike said. “We needed to try our best and defend what our other players had done. We played super-hard and it’s an honor to share that (title) with Cy Woods.”
Cy-Fair volleyball coach Donna Benotti expected great things from Ogwumike, a team co-captain who often served as a coach on the floor.
“She’s an amazing leader,” Benotti said. “Each night before the game, she’d motivate the kids and prepare the kids, keep the kids calm and focused on the big picture.”
“She played amazing, she just stepped up. She knew how important that (Cy Woods) match was and she raised her level of play up and our kids raised up right there with her.”
Ogwumike, 16, is also a standout basketball player and the only returning starter from a Class 5A state champion squad. As the team’s center, she’s had to go from a supporting role to that of a go-to player.
She’s the only Cy-Fair athlete to play both sports at the varsity level this season.
Ogwumike’s older sister, Nneke, starred on last season’s championship team as a center, earning 2007-08 National Gatorade Player of the Year honors. She’s now playing basketball for perennial power Stanford University.
Ogwumike isn’t sure whether she’ll play basketball or volleyball at the next level, only saying that she’s going to “keep my options open.”
She’s already looking forward to leading the Bobcats to their sixth straight district championship next fall.
“We try even no matter what circumstances are,” Ogwumike said. “I think Bobcat Fight Never Dies means keep trying, keep perservering, stay positive and keep up the Bobcat tradition. I’m going to try to play as hard as I can and be the best teammate I can and have a great senior year and do as well as I can in volleyball.”
All-Sun Volleyball Team
Outside hitter - Hayley Koop, Klein junior
Outside hitter - Kendall Cleveland, Cy Falls senior
Middle blocker - Allyson Judkins, Jersey Village senior
Middle blocker - Desiree Elliott, Cy Woods junior
Setter - Caleigh McCorquodale, Cy Woods senior
Libero - Sindhu Vegesana, Klein Oak sophomore
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