Cooper senior spiker Wood sharpened skills over summer
Senior Kayley Wood, a rising star at The John Cooper School, and her Houston Juniors 17 Elite volleyball team finished the Open Division of USA Volleyball’s Girls Junior National Championship in Indianapolis as the No. 2 junior team in the country.
“We look forward to seeing Kayley back on our volleyball court in the fall,” Cooper coach Ray Hedden said in a release. “She has already shown that she can contribute on the court with an impressive run at Junior Nationals, but I am most excited with the early leadership role she has taken here at Cooper.
“She understands the work it takes to win at that level, so I am counting on her and the other seniors to lead those efforts in practice which will carry on to competition.”
Wood also recently committed to play volleyball at the next level at St. John’s in New York. Varying expectations
Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine picked Magnolia and Magnolia West to finish 1-2 in District 20-5A, respectively, raising expectations across the area for a banner year for Magnolia ISD.
But Magnolia West coach J.D. Berna pointed out that opinions vary.
The Chronicle has the Mustangs third, behind Magnolia and Brenham, and Friday Night Football has them dead last in the district.
“There’s a lot of excitement here in Magnolia, with Dave Campbell’s picking us 1-2, and that’s a big rivalry game, obviously, with the two high schools here in town, but you never know what’s going to happen,” Berna said. Comeback Cubs
Brenham is a real threat to Magnolia ISD’s dominance despite going 4-7 last season, with the low point a 25-7 loss to Tomball.
The Cubs lost to Magnolia and Magnolia West for the first time last season.
In fact, the 21-7 setback against Magnolia West was their first loss to the Mustangs in eight meetings.
Those losses led to the Cubs’ first under-.500 season in 18 years, and they still made the playoffs, bowing out in the first round to North Forest, so it’s difficult to imagine the 2013 state finalists will struggle again.