![Walking through the tunnel created by the cheerleaders and Celebrities, senior Frances Tran smiles as the soccer team is sent off during DEN for their playoff game against Rouse tonight. Tran said the wins against Smithson Valley and Alamo Heights gave the team a morale boost to take on the Raiders tonight. “I know we were not 100% confident in those games,” Tran said. “But, Rouse is a big opponent for sure. We’re definitely going into tonight with a lot of morale [because of the previous wins].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/frances-tran.jpg)
![Holding a bucket of materials in one hand and a roll of tape in another, anatomy and biology teacher Tyler Terry prepares for a lab. Terry said his proudest moments are when his students are happy to see him. “When I take my wife to a football game or something and a bunch of students want to say hi to me or they like to smile and wave and it just makes me feel good that the students are really kind and supportive of me,” Terry said. “[I’m also] proud when I see students perform really well in their extracurriculars because I can see how hard they’re working in my classes, [so] when I see that they’re also working so hard in other things. Like they’re winning band competitions or they’re getting awards for their theater productions, or I see them put on their choir shows, that’s like, wow, you guys are incredible.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Rags-6.png)
![Catching a ball, junior Alivia Robinson plays at the Cedar Park vs Glenn game. Having played since she was 5 years old, she is dedicated to softball and has committed to UTPB for softball. “When I got my offer it took me a very long time to decide where,” Robinson said. “Softball has always been my dream for college, and UTPB is my fit. When [I committed] I knew I was going to be loved and supported.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lilly-Adams-3.13aliviaedit-901.jpg)
He watches as each player gets ready for the upcoming drill. The girls surround their coach, listening for instructions. Coach calls out his name to join in on the drill and he smiles in excitement to get to play the game. The drill starts and he is locked in and focused on his goal of blocking the ball. The girls on the other side of the net jump, set, hit and immediately are blocked as the ball flies to the ground. The girls rally around him celebrating his big block.
The varsity volleyball team has a new addition to their team, junior Hadrian Hurn, a boys club volleyball player who joined as the Lady Timberwolves’ manager in the beginning of the 2023 volleyball season. He plays on the 17’s Molten team at Austin Junior Volleyball, an organization that has both girls and boys teams.
“I first started playing volleyball when I was about 14,” Hurn said. “I was at a friend’s birthday party, it was at a park and we were playing sand volleyball and I really enjoyed it and then started playing more often. After playing it with my friends, now two years later, I play for AJV.”
In his volleyball career, Hurn has always been a pinside hitter. Throughout his club season his coaches guided him to right-side hitter where he was utilized as a big blocker. Hurn’s club team travels to numerous club tournaments in and out of the state of Texas, competing in nine tournaments in total per season. Previously, Hurn competed on the AJV Boys 16 Adidas Team, which made it to the USA Boys Junior National Championship in Salt Lake City, Utah on June 29th through July 3rd, where they placed ninth out of 30 teams in the 16 USA division.
“My favorite memory as a volleyball player was when we were playing against our rival club, Houston Volleyball Academy,” Hurn said. “We were in the final match of the tournament playing for first place. We managed to win in the third set, placing first at the HVA Winter Classic and after we won everyone came storming onto the court. We finished that game around 10:15 p.m. and we all went to Whataburger because it was the only thing open at that time. This win led to multiple more medals later in the season and two bids to go to the USA Boys Junior National Championship.”
According to Hurn, it is common for boys volleyball players to become the managers of the school girls team. Most public schools do not have boys teams, so the boys volleyball players often join the girls teams as managers to stay involved and connected with the sport.
“Being a manager I am able to help out with practices and get to watch all the games,” Hurn said. “Being a manager also helps me as a player because I can watch high level volleyball and watch how people better than me play and apply the playing style or techniques and form to how I play in my practices and games. It was a little hard at first managing club, school volleyball, work, and school but I have now found a flow and things have gotten so much easier because I force myself to set specific times to get work done and keep track of assignments.”
As the school volleyball season comes to an end in November, volleyball players begin to shift their focus onto clubs. According to Hurn, he will miss having an easy fourth and eighth period and game day food, but mostly he will miss watching the games and cheering on the team. He also will pursue volleyball in college in hopes of a college scholarship and has started the recruiting process.
“I am ready for the club season,” Hurn said. “I am most looking forward to getting the opportunity to possibly play up in the 18’s division, which will be really good for developing as a player and I will be playing at a really high competitive level. I feel like at the national tournament we could have gotten a lot better than ninth because the teams we lost to were not at the same level as us, but placing ninth my first actual season playing is pretty good.”
