Posted: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:41 AM - 15,493 Readers
By: Rick Cantu
photography by Alberto Martínez
As the daughter of two Olympic sprinters, Lake Travis volleyball player Sierra Patrick was born on the fast track to athletic success.
Patrick certainly showed skill and tenacity while helping the Lady Cavaliers win the Class 4A state championship last fall. She followed that up with a high jump silver medal at the UIL track and field championships in the spring. In the summer, her club volleyball team won a national title.
All along, Patrick's ego has been kept in check by a mother who has an impressive athletic pedigree of her own.
"My mom will joke that no matter what I do, I'm not as successful as she was yet," Patrick said Wednesday during a break from practice. "She'll tell me that I have no reason to talk."
Sandra Farmer-Patrick was a three-time Olympian, winning a silver for the United States in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1992 Games in Barcelona. Her husband, David Patrick, was an NCAA all-America hurdler at Tennessee and a member of the '92 Olympic team.
"They're always pushing me to be the best I can be, and they've always supported me 110 percent," Sierra Patrick said.
This fall, Patrick has been a cornerstone of one of the best high school volleyball teams in state history. Lake Travis opens defense of its Class 4A title tonight at Texas State, where the Lady Cavaliers will face Richmond Foster in a state semifinal match. The Cavaliers are 48-0, having won all 118 sets they've played along the way.
If they claim a second straight Class 4A state championship on Saturday afternoon, the Cavs will become the first team in state history to win 50 matches in a season.
Lake Travis' roster is stacked with nine seniors, eight of whom plan to college volleyball next year, including six who signed with NCAA Division I programs. That group includes Patrick, a 5-foot-11-inch outside hitter who signed with Texas A&M.
"We started the season with five goals: winning three preseason tournaments, district and state," first-year Lake Travis coach Jennifer Kazmierski said. "We've achieved four of the five."
Joining Patrick on the front line is senior outside hitter Amy Neal, who committed to play for the University of Texas as a sophomore. The All-Central Texas player of the year last season, Neal said anything less than winning a state championship would be devastating.
"To win in back-to-back years would be a big deal," said Neal, who has played for the Austin Juniors club team since she was 13.
Neal and Patrick were joined on the Austin Juniors team that won a national championship in July by longtime friends and teammates Mackenzie Mayo (Baylor) and Katy Beals (University of Washington).
Rounding out the eight seniors who will play college volleyball next fall are Cassie Wang (Washington University of St. Louis), Gabby Bienkowski (Great Falls (Mont.) University), Kaci Eaton (North Texas) and Piper Toler, who plans to walk on at TCU.
Another vital player has been defensive specialist Shelby Lineberry. A senior, she missed the 2010 state tournament after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament, an injury that requires her to wear a heavy brace.
"There isn't any pressure to be perfect," Wang said. "Rather, there is motivation to play well for our teammates. We all have the same goal, so it's easy to play for each other."
Beals said the volleyball team has gained support from the Lake Travis student body over the past two years, and the team's profile rose when it joined the football squad as a state champion.
"I think they consider us the real deal," she said.
No matter what happens at the state tournament, it will be a bittersweet ending for Lake Travis' nine seniors. It will mark the final time they will play together in Cavaliers uniforms.
"If we win, I think I'll just start bawling after the ball hits the floor (for the final point)," Wang said. "We're so close and we love each other. It's going to feel like there's a hole."
