SNEAKY GOOD: Cedar Park benefitting from tough pre-district schedule

Cedar Park volleyball is on a roll.

Coach Lori McLaughlin and the Timberwolves (26-15) have run the table in district (11-0) with a mix of interesting athletes.

The starters are made up of one senior, four juniors and a sophomore. First off the bench are a pair of freshmen. Wait, what?

Senior Sofia Peters is a national soccer recruit, signed with UTSA, while their libero is a sophomore move-in from Baton Rouge. The hammer is Joy Udoye, a national recruit as a junior, while Mya Cheatum is another weapon on the outside.

“I tell this team to, ‘play loose, play for each other and have fun’,” coach McLaughlin said. “That’s what they do. There is no finger-pointing, and everyone knows their role.”

Udoye is their “go-to” scorer and sets the tone.

“She has a great work ethic and a calmness on the court,” she said. “But, we have an amazing supporting cast, starting with Sofia. She is having a career year. You better respect Mya, because she comes in firing. They all have an edge to them from practice to the games.”

Juniors Sibley Oster and Katelyn Hughes handle the setting duties and super soph Anna Kurz is all over the floor. Freshmen Harper Bohnen (OH) and Blake Gilkey (DS) have huge careers in front of them.

“It’s funny, those freshmen haven’t really had that ‘I’m-a-freshman’ moment,” she said. “They can play.”

Don’t let their record fool you. It was by design.

“Oh yes, we front-loaded our schedule,” she said. “We wanted to play the best big-school competition we could before district play. We took some L’s but we got better. Now, we are prepared for the postseason.”