UW Signee Named Wyoming Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year

Cheyenne East's Meghan Sipe was named the 2010-11 Wyoming Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year. Sipe, a 6'1" senior outside hitter, hit .370, averaged 5.8 kills and 2.5 digs per game this past season.  She lead her team to a 20-15 record, the 4A East Regional Championship and an appearance in the 4A state semifinals.  Sipe was one of four athletes who signed to play volleyball at the University of Wyoming in November. More information on Sipe can be found in this article by John Gabrielson http://wyopreps.com/broadcaster/Article?owner=wyopreps&incidentId=313653.

The new Cowgirls in the fall of 2011 will be Sipe, Katherine Feldman, Bridget Shanahan, and Whitney Smith.

Katherine Feldman is a 6'6" middle blocker from Pine Creek High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Her team finished the 2010 season with a 26-5 record and made it to the 5A State Championship match after winning the Metro and District Championships.  There is a video of her high school team in action here, http://www.coloradosprings.com/video/?videoId=605359711001, Feldman wears #9.  In the off-season, Feldman plays for the highly successful Colorado Juniors Volleyball Club.  Her 2010 team finished in the top three at multiple regional tournaments and qualified for the Junior Olympics.  AVCA put Feldman on the 2010-11 Under Armour Girls' High School All-America Watch List.  She will add size as a rightside player according to Head Coach Carrie Yerty in a release from the University of Wyoming.

Bridget Shanahan hails from Gasport, New York where she was a 6'2" outside hitter/middle blocker for Royalton-Hartland High School.  Her Roy-Hart team won league championships in 2008 and 2009.  Shanahan was a two-time captain and named All-Western New York the last four years. She currently holds school records in kills, hitting efficiency and blocks. There is a short video of Shanahan talking about her team's goals in 2009 here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnOmmNKFlT4&feature=related.  In the club season she plays for Niagara Frontier and was selected to the USA Volleyball High Performance Continental Team.  On a prepvolleyball.com message board, Shanahan was referred to as "a gem of a player" and "a very hard working girl who clearly cares more about 'team' than individual results".

Whitney Smith is a 6'0" setter at Seven Lakes High School and was also selected to the 2010-11 Watch List.  She is from Katy, Texas where her team was District Champions and Regional Quarterfinalists on their way to a 31-12 record in 2010.  Smith holds the school record for assists per match and was named 1st Team All-District.  She plays club for the Texas Tornadoes and has been a part of multiple teams which won or finished highly at regional tournaments, including qualifying for the Girls Junior National Championships and the Junior Olympics. In the same release from UW, Yerty mentioned the size Smith will have as a setter and the flexibility it adds to the team.