BHS' Holderman named All-Area Volleyball Player of Year
| Saturday, Dec 27 2008 02:19 AM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:49 PM
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Bakersfield High Driller Lauren Holderman is the volleyball player of the year for 2008.
You might not have noticed, but Bakersfield High volleyball had a new sheriff in charge this year.
Gone to the University of Florida is Cassandra Anderson, the 6-foot-1 outside hitter with a powerful swing that resulted in more than 500 kills and a trip to the Central Section finals.
In her place is unassuming Lauren Holderman, just 5-foot-6 and more of a Ferrari than a monster truck when it comes to attacking. But, as it turns out, just as effective. Holderman, like Anderson last year, is The Californian'sVolleyball Player of the Year.
"Everybody saw when Cassandra was pounding balls to the floor," Bakersfield coach Tom Clarke said. "But I've always known what I had with Lauren. She slipped through the cracks a little bit, but she really got the job done."
Holderman averaged 3.7 kills a game and punctuated her season with an 19-kill performance in a Division I Central Section semifinals loss at Clovis West without being blocked once.
"She played middle blocker as a 5-foot-6 kid," Clarke said. "That's unheard of. There's no one who ever played middle at 5-6 and was effective."
But that was just part of Holderman's game. She served 83 aces and had 4.2 digs a game. She's versatile enough that when she plays at Cal State Bakersfield next year, she'll specialize in defense as a libero.
For the record, that'll be her third position.
"I started playing in fifth grade as an outside hitter," Holderman said. "At first, it hurt my arms, but I eventually just kind of sucked it up and got used to it. So at first I was an outside and then a middle at BHS, and in college I'll play defense."
Don't doubt that she can do it, Clarke said.
"There's only two people in town that I would consider elite passers, and she's one of them," said Clarke, who added that Liberty's Mariah Alvidrez was the other. "She's going to make a phenomenal college libero. Her speed and court vision, she sees everything going on."
And that proved to be a blessing for the young Drillers, who needed all the help they could get from that seemingly anonymous girl in the corner.
"We had to learn how each other played," Holderman said. "We definitely had growing pains, but it turned into something really good."
And there's no one besides Holderman that Clarke wanted leading that movement.
"I could go on and on talking about her," Clarke said. "I made a little speech about her at our awards night, and I simply just said that this is one of those kids that somewhere down the road, she's going to do something where we all go, 'Man, I knew her as a kid.' And I really believe that."
