Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 12, 1993 TAG: 9304120094
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
3 CHEERS FOR FOREST'S SLADE
For Jefferson Forest's Lynelle Slade, rejection in one activity meant success and a college scholarship in another."I always intended to be a cheerleader. In eighth grade, I didn't make the cheerleader squad and the junior-varsity coach had said if I didn't make that, I could come out for volleyball," Slade said.
The Jefferson Forest senior gave it a try and hasn't had a desire to lead cheers since. This year, she concluded her career by leading Jefferson Forest to the Group AA state tournament and is Timesland volleyball player of the year. Her efforts landed a scholarship at Virginia Tech where she'll continue to play volleyball.
Slade heads a team that includes two Salem seniors - Shannon Harrison, who was runner-up for player of the year, and Amy Atkins.
The coach of the year is North Cross' Donna Satterwhite, who beat out Gretna's Gloria Motley for that honor. North Cross went unbeaten and the small private school swept six matches from four Group AAA Roanoke Valley District schools.
Gretna, which won the Group AA state title under Motley, placed Dawn Gibson on the first team and LaShawn Barbour on the second team. George Wythe is the only other school with two representatives as Stacey Green is the lone junior on the first team while Eve Kendall is second team.
The first team is rounded out by North Cross' Elizabeth Noland and Glenvar's Bobbie Jo Wright. Slade and Harrison are repeat first-team picks, while Wright was a second-team choice in 1992.
The rest of the second team includes Blacksburg's Meredith Braine, William Fleming's Tia Hilton, Cave Spring's Jennie Kallio, Tunstall's Brenda LaFlamme and Patrick Henry's Ashley Sweet.
The honorees are selected by the members of the Roanoke Times & World-News sports department who cover high school athletics.
"I'm not crushed at not being a cheerleader," Slade said. "It turned out for the best. I really owe it all to my coach [Phyllis Buckner].
"She taught me everything - all the necessary skills I needed and of course you have to work at it."
Slade plans to major in biology and be a pre-med student at Tech. "I want to be a pediatrician. I like working with kids."
In earning the Seminole District's player-of-the-year honor, Slade had 85 blocks, served 52 aces and had 154 kills.
Satterwhite's North Cross team went 23-0 despite losing a couple of its best players - middle hitter Blair Calvert and setter Erin Humphries - to injuries.
"It's hard to say if this was our best team," Satterwhite said. "Certainly we've not had a team that has been this successful. We've never beaten all the Roanoke Valley District teams in one year before.
"I knew we'd be real strong defensively and consistent servers. Noland was an outside hitter, but she led the team in serving. She was unbelievable."
Harrison, who will play volleyball at Bridgewater College, was No. 1 for Salem in service aces (1.6 per game), kills (1.9 per game) and passer (94.4 percent accuracy). She was the Blue Ridge District player of the year. Atkins was a much improved player who was almost in a class with Harrison and Slade.
Gibson had 17 assists and Barbour eight kills to lead Gretna's state championship victory over Gate City. Gibson had 402 assists while Barbour, a junior, had 110 kills as the 1-2 punch was a great combination for the Hawks.
Green led Wythe to the Group A runner-up spot and was named the Region C player of the year just ahead of Wright, whose Glenvar team lost to Wythe in the Region C semifinals.
Noland was North Cross' most consistent player and held the team together as the Raiders swept to the Blue Ridge Conference title.
Besides Barbour on the second team, Sweet was RVD player of the year; LaFlamme was Piedmont District player of the year; Braine was Region IV hitter of the year; Hilton was a hidden talent for a Fleming team that was not that strong; Kendall was Wythe's most consistent player behind Green; and Kallio was an All-Northwestern Region choice.