THE GAZETTE
Wednesday, October 9, 2013 z
Page B-5
Sherwood’s Roy assumes key role on state’s top volleyball team Volleyball: Senior leads three-time defending state champions n
BY
TRAVIS MEWHIRTER STAFF WRITER
There was a point when Makayla Roy was the new girl. As a freshman at the Academy of the Holy Cross, she was in a new school, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, walking unfamiliar hallways and knowing very few girls she bumped into between classes. A naturally quiet girl, even today, Roy sought an easy outlet to make some friends at the Kensington private school, so she tried out for volleyball, a strange, unfamiliar concept to her at the time having never played prior to her freshman season. The daughter of a former University of Maryland, College Park football player and the sibling to several other collegiate athletes, Roy was a supremely gifted athlete, and the game came to her as easy as softball had. Before long, she was starting on the junior varsity team. By playoff time, she was pulled up to the varsity squad — “a self-esteem booster,” as she called it. After her freshman year, however, Roy transferred over to Sherwood, where coach Brian McCarty immediately slotted her into the starting lineup alongside prodigious talent, Alex Holston, who was a year older than Roy. After two years being Holston’s understudy, Roy no longer is the new girl — she’s the new face of Sherwood volleyball. Many might have counted Sherwood out this year due to losing one of the most gifted hitters in state history. Those doubters likely didn’t count on Roy to continue the run of three-consecutive state championships and current 66-match winning streak. “Alex, you know, she dominated last year,” Roy said. “It’s definitely different having to be one of the go-to players so it’s exciting. Ariella [Rodriguez], she’s a great setter. She’s al-
Sherwood High School’s Makayla Roy celebrates a point against Col. Zadok Magruder on Oct. 2. ways telling me what play to run, and we work that out.” When thinking of prototypical hitters, Roy doesn’t exactly fit any one particular paradigm. Standing 5-foot10, she doesn’t boast the imposing height and never ending wingspan of Holy Cross’ 6-foot-5 Rhamat Alhassan, who Roy would currently be teamed up with had she decided to remain with the Tartans. Her spikes, while carrying a great deal of velocity,
don’t sizzle and boom as Col. Zadok Magruder’s Lizzi Walsh’s do. But there is no doubt that the senior can put the ball down — she just finds a different way to do it every time. Like a pitcher with multiple out pitches, Roy has a bevy of different hits she can go to for a point. If she logs six kills in a set, which she did in a 3-0 sweep against Magruder
TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
last Wednesday, she might have two power kills cross-court, a dump kill to the middle and a few to either sideline. “I probably try and hit more spots,” Roy said. “I try to hit it away from where the defense is. I used to hit it in the net a lot more, but I try to keep it consistent.” Consistency has been Roy’s trade-
mark this season. Only once has she not eclipsed double-digit kills, and that was a 25-7, 25-8, 25-7 win against Albert Einstein in which younger players received more playing time than usual. After posting a season-high 20 kills in the regular season opener against Richard Montgomery, Roy has logged 11 kills four times, 14 in a 3-2 win against Winston Churchill and 10 once, a reliable target for Rodriguez to look for on the outside. “It’s great,” Rodriguez said after the Magruder win. “Makayla, she’s a great person, and she’s a great player. Love her.” “Makayla is sort of the glue to their team,” Magruder coach Scott Zanni said. “She’s got to be one of the top players in the county. There’s no question about it. I really like her. She’s a really great player. Wherever she goes to college, they’re going to get a great player.” Late to the recruiting scene, Roy currently is being sought primarily by Shippensburg and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, who came to see the hitter practice last Thursday. Only a month and a half ago did she decide to pursue volleyball at the next level, so she’s currently playing catch up. But, she says, she likes the slightly smaller, Division II and III feel that Shippensburg and IUP bring to the table. “She’s just been recently getting a lot of college interest, a lot of looks, taking visits,” McCarty said. “She’s really working hard in practice to get all the shots down: angle, cut, tipping, just reading the defense. Finally, just the biggest thing for her is just commanding the ball. Just knowing Alex is gone, she’s our go-to player, and she needs to not only be a senior leader with her voice but demanding the ball during the play and making the plays her teammates expect her to and need her to.” tmewhirter@gazette.net
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TOWN OF POOLESVILLE NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Notice is hereby given that there will be a Public Hearing before the Poolesville Planning Commission on October 16, 2013 at 7:30 PM at the Poolesville Town Hall, 19721 Beall Street, Poolesville, Maryland to consider the following items: 1. Zoning Code: A comprehensive revision of the Poolesville Zoning Code, Poolesville Code Appendix B. This revision establishes a Poolesville Transition Two Plus (2+) Acre zone for properties now zoned RDT for certain properties and eliminates the Central Business District (CBD) zoning classification, replacing it with the Poolesville General Commercial zoning classification. 2. Comprehensive Rezoning: The Poolesville Planning Commission has analyzed current zoning and has proposed that certain parcels be rezoned from Poolesville One-Half (1/2) acre to Poolesville Commercial; and from RDT to Transition Two Plus Acre zoning. Copies of these proposals are available to review at the Poolesville Town Hall.
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