Gennifer Holberg

Jordan Tucker-Willaford, Sports Editor
November 2, 2011
Filed under Featured Athlete, Features

As the month comes to a close, one athlete rose above expectations in the sport’s month of October. In result, that very athlete was awarded Athlete of the Month.

This award was handed to senior volleyball captain Gennifer Holberg.

Holberg’s play at the end of the season that included 17 kills against Old High and 10 kills and five aces against Ryan that helped her team reach the playoffs earned her this months honor.

However, while Holberg is not on the court, she works hard in the classroom where she takes all AP/Pre-AP classes and still maintains an A/B semester average. Even with all this, she still finds time to excel on the volleyball court.

“Gennifer doesn’t need to command the respect, her classmates just respect her,” Silva said. “They see that she is good and Genn is humble about her talent. I think she has really turned into a great role model. If she continues on this path, working hard and overcoming negative emotions quicker she has great success in her future.”

However, while she is on the court, Holberg shows numerous signs that lead to conclusions that she could play at the next level.

“Gennifer has really picked up her game and started excelling in practice which has transferred over to games,” Silva said. “She is a different type of leader, she leads by example. She demonstrates strong leadership skills by working hard in practice, always hustling and lifting up her teammates. She is also getting better at not getting so down on herself and shaking off what just happened and moving onto the next play.”

Holberg one of just a couple seniors on the team stepped up her game making her presence felt when the team needed it most down the stretch.

“Gennifer’s game has always been consistent during pre-season,” Silva said. “We utilized her more offensively than we did during the season. It was not because of anything Genn was doing wrong, for some reason we just were not getting her the ball. When we started giving Genn more balls she started making a presence for herself. She has a very strong presence at 6 foot, a lefty with great hands, thats intimidating.”