Westover's Katelyn Holley put in the work, led Bulldogs to new heights

Katelyn Holley was determined to make her senior season at Westover Christian a memorable one on the volleyball court.

From the long hours over the summer in the numerous camps to the work she put in during every practice session, she had her mind set on becoming a leader. In leading the Bulldogs in the locker room, she did so much more on the court as a setter.

“I had a lot of good role models to watch play through the years,” Holley said. “When I first started setting, they told me that you had to be a leader. I was like if this is what I’m going to do, I’m going to do it right. If I need to be a leader, I’m going to be a leader. You just have to need everybody to respect you so that they know what you’re doing and have to have confidence in you.”

Holley’s renewed dedication to her senior season earned the respect of her teammates, coaches and competitors. In leading Westover Christian to its best season to date, Holley is the 2011 Danville Register & Bee All-Metro volleyball player of the year.

“I think it meant everything to her. She put everything she had into it and it paid off, and that doesn’t always happen in sports. She put the work in and she gained my respect as a coach,” Westover coach Jim Barber said. “That kind of respect, the other players see that work ethic and that desire to win and compete hard. She’s not one to give up or get discouraged.”

Holley’s stats speak volumes to her work ethic, especially after she took over the lead setter role on the team. She finished the season with 441 assists, 118 aces and a staggering 89 serve percentage, while also being named to the VISAA all-state team.

Westover finished the season 27-5, recording its most victories in a season while claiming the VACA South Region championship, the first VACA state championship in school history and advancing to the Virginia Independent School Athletic Association (VISAA) Division 3 Final Four for the first time.

“She definitely played an integral part. She was fired up about this pretty much all the offseason, she put in a lot of work this summer, got in the weight room … she went to several camps, played some club ball and really just took her game to a new level,” Barber said. “She had the respect of the whole team — not just a couple of kids here and there — she influenced the whole team as a leader. They looked to her, she was just steady; she didn’t get shook up if we were playing bad or playing good. She just stayed steady and her serving definitely won us a couple of games here and there by itself. “

The Bulldogs picked up victories over Piedmont District teams Patrick County (district and tournament champion) and Magna Vista, which prepared the team for the tougher private school teams in the VISAA, even as a favorite as the No. 2 seed.

While they had the regular-season experience, it was still a somewhat different atmosphere to be playing in Richmond with an opportunity for a state championship.

“It was so exciting. It was just an honor to be up there,” Holley said of playing in the state Final Four at The Steward School. “We had so much fun; we bonded so much as a team. It was like our last hoorah and it was just great.

“We were really nervous going into it obviously because we are such a small school and we don’t get experiences like that or opportunities like that very often. We felt just really blessed and God blessed us a lot with our season. It was just a blessing to be able to go out there.”