School News

Experienced Greenhill squad sets its sights on another SPC crown

BY GREG FORD Sports Editor

Photography: Jeremy Chesnutt

Photo: Autumn Erickson, left, and Kim Briant are the two senior leaders on the 2002 Greenhill squad.

The Greenhill girls’ volleyball team is the defending Div. I champion of the Southwest Preparatory Conference.

Almost all of the players from that title-winning squad are back for the 2002 season.

However, Lady Hornets’ head coach Michelle McGuire is not making any guarantees about how her team will fare this season. However, she is confident that her team, which McGuire said has been inconsistent will continue to improve as the season progresses.

“I think as we go into the conference (schedule) we will get these details worked out and we will play our best volleyball,” McGuire said. “We’re going to be playing our best volleyball when it matters. We’re going to peak at the right time.”

It’s easy to understand why McGuire would not want to give the opposition any bulletin-board type quote.

Yet, with everything that the Lady Hornets have this season, it is hard to imagine them not winning another SPC crown.

The Lady Hornets currently have a record of 19-14, which includes participating in the Nike Tournament Sept. 20-21 in Chicago. It was during that tournament that McGuire, now in her 10th year as the Greenhill coach, earned her 300th victory at Greenhill.

Tonight the Lady Hornets travel to Fort Worth Trinity Valley for a match with an SPC rival, and beginning Oct. 8 they will begin a series of “counter games” with SPC opponents that will determine who will be seeded in Div. I and Div. II.

The SPC championships are Nov. 8-9 in Fort Worth.

Greenhill will begin its series of counter games with a line up that features outside hitter Autumn Erickson and setter Kim Briant, the only two seniors on the team.

“They are my statistical leaders,” McGuire said.

Erickson, who is listed at 6-foot-0, had 264 kills and has a .319 hitting percentage. McGuire said Erickson sets the pace on the offense. Defensively, Briant has 261 digs or an average of 3.63 a game.

While they are the leaders, Erickson and Briant have not carried the team alone. Other players have performed well, like Elizabeth Barnwell, who has 248 kills and 133 digs.

“She’s a junior and she is our best blocker (76 blocks),” McGuire said.

A newcomer on the team is Amanda Smith, a junior setter who leads the team in assists with 711 and aces with 50.

Smith transferred from Plano West.

“She is an experienced setter who understands how to run the offense and she has shown some leadership,” McGuire said.

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— Staff report