Welcome to the 2007 - 2008 Central Lady Cat's Volleyball Team

Central rules district team

After another year of remarkable success by the Central High School volleyball team (a 35-6 overall record and 11-1 mark in district), it should come as no surprise that the two-time defending 3-5A champion Lady Cats dominated the all-district team released this weekend.

Central setter Regan Darby was the unanimous pick as Most Valuable Player. Her twin sister Ashley Darby was named the Outstanding Defensive Player and Lady Cats head coach Connie Bozarth was named the Coach of the Year.

Central middle blocker Stephanie Starnes, who is expected to officially ink her scholarship agreement with D-I Northeastern University next week, was named to the 3-5A first team along with Lady Cats outside hitter Lyric Ross.

Junior middle Kaitlyn Standard and senior outside hitter Stacy Teston were Central representatives on the all-district second team and seniors Ashley Dyches and Jennifer Horn and junior Alyssa Riddle were honorable mention selections.

For Regan Darby, the MVP award caps her two-year stint as the starting setter during which time the Lady Cats went 69-10.

"Regan has a knack for finding the right hitter at the right time," Bozarth said earlier this year. "She has such a big heart as far as playing through pain. She's definitely someone you'd want leading you into battle."

Ashley Darby, meanwhile, wasn't even a starter at libero for Central until this season, but made the most of her senior year.

"She's very analytical. Very much the perfectionist," Bozarth said. "When she plays fearlessly, she's the best around."

The Lady Cats matched their success in the classroom. Eleven varsity Lady Cats (both Darbys, Starnes, Teston, Dyches, Horn, Riddle, Mary Delaughter, Ashley Thoma, Sarah Hayden, and Hanna Horeis) were named academic all-district.

Besides winning that title, Central beat Mansfield Summit in bi-district before falling to Lubbock Coronado in the playoffs' area round.

Unstoppable Duo

Terrell Owens and Tomy Romo. Peanut butter and jelly. Regan Darby and Stephanie Starnes. Some combos just seem made for each other. Whenever the volleyball passed from Darby to Starnes, you could almost sense scoreboard operators reaching to add a point for Central High School - even before the ball had hit the floor. They were that good, easily the most powerful combination in West Texas volleyball for the past two years. With Darby setting the volleyballs perfectly and Starnes spiking them down opponents' throats, the Lady Cats went 69-10 over the last two seasons, were a regular in the state's Top 10 rankings and won a pair of district and bidistrict titles.

Each senior would have been great by themselves. Together, Darby and Starnes were, well: "Wow," Central head coach Connie Bozarth said. "You don't see many pairs like that." They were unstoppable on the court, and today they are inseparable as Darby and Starnes share the MVP award on the 2007 Standard-Times All West Texas Volleyball Team. Each were at the top of their own game, and in doing so made the other better. Darby tallied a remarkable 1,256 assists this season while also recording 285 digs, 62 kills and 55 aces en route to a unanimous selection as District 3-5A MVP. Starnes led the Lady Cats (35-6) in kills with 416 and also had 89 digs, 77 blocks, 65 aces, was a Texas Girls Coaches Association All-State Selection, and has been selected to play in next summer's TGCA High School All-Star game.

"They are alike in so many ways in their commitment to the sport and to the team," Bozarth said. "They both did everything above and beyond what they needed to do to get better and make the team better. ... They are both great-quality kids. They are going to be hard to replace. Both redheads, phenomenal athletes. You can just sit and talk to them like adults." They are both alike in another way too. They find it much easier to brag about each other than themselves. "Regan is one of the most selfless players I've ever played with," Starnes said. "I loved playing with her. She goes for everything. She's really inspiring. You want to win for her." "Stephanie motivated every player to work harder," Darby said. "She set the standard for everybody. She worked hard, and everybody noticed." Other than playing different positions, the road each player traveled to be so dominant is maybe the duo's biggest difference. For Starnes, it was about putting in more time that anyone else. For Darby, it was playing through pain that would have ended most players' careers.

Ever since Starnes was a freshman, she's been playing volleyball year-round. When the high school season wasn't in session, she made twice-weekly drives to Austin to play with a top-tier club team. "I've always been the type of person when I do something, I want to be good at it and really focus on it," Starnes said. The hard work paid off in the form of a scholarship to play at Northeastern University in Boston, but Starnes is still playing with that Austin team even now. "That just shows her commitment to being better," Bozarth said. "She's already wrapped up a D-I scholarship but she's still willing to make that drive...She doesn't want to show up in August (at Northeastern) and be anything less than her best."

Darby, meanwhile, was hampered by a shoulder injury she had surgery on between her sophomore and junior seasons. The surgery didn't help much in terms of mobility or pain relief, but Darby still became the team's starting setter her junior year and stayed there ever since. "You want to talk about a tough kid....If she had been 100-percent I don't know what better she could have done other than not playing in pain," Bozarth said. "Once she got out on the court, she forgot about it, but afterwards there were times when she was just in tears, and she doesn't cry easily. That says a lot for her. Great fortitude. She never let that be an excuse and she'd be angry with me if I'd hold her out of drills. Toward the end she was having to sit out (of practice) at least one day a week, and she didn't like that." The shoulder injury was just part of it. "My hand would swell up when I played, just massive, and turn purple," said Darby. But it never stopped her. Even a broken nose suffered in the area around playoff loss to Lubbock Coronado just kept Darby off the court for five points. The love of the game was so great that just being in the Central gym this week watching underclassmen practice in offseason volleyball was difficult for both Starnes and Darby. "I'm just really jealous that they are playing right now," Darby said, glancing at the court. "I want to suit up and join them. I keep telling Coach Bozarth (joking, of course) that I'm going to fail and be here next year. Playing high school volleyball is something I'm going to cherish forever."