Thursday, April 25, 2024
SENIOR STANDOUT: Granbury High School senior Sara Welch was recently named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s All-America Watchlist.
TEAM MVP: Since 2019, Granbury High School senior Sara Welch has earned several awards and accomplishments in volleyball, including the GHS Team MVP, Fighting Heart and the Will to Win awards. She was named all-district and academic all-district in 2020 and 2021 and this year, Welch placed fifth in the Lone Star Tournament and won the AVC 18s National Qualifier.
Sara Welch certainly knows her way around a net.
The Granbury High School senior was recently named in the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s All-America Watchlist.
The AVCA All-America Watchlist is for the top rising seniors who have received external recognition for their outstanding volleyball play, according to avca.org.
Welch, 17, started playing volleyball when she was in the fourth grade.
“Back then I just kind of wanted to play what everybody else was playing, if I'm being honest,” she said. “But now I love the strategy of the game, the technical side of it and the adrenaline rush it gives me.”
Welch started out as a six-rotation outside hitter, but became a setter in the eighth grade — a position she still plays today.
“Being a setter, I always have to look at the other side of the net to see where the open spots are and set up my offense as best as possible to succeed; it's like a puzzle,” she said.
Since 2019, Welch has earned several awards and recognitions.
In 2019, she earned the GHS Team MVP and the Fighting Heart awards.
She earned the Will to Win award twice and was named all-district and academic all-district in 2020 and 2021.
This year, Welch placed fifth in the Lone Star Tournament and won the AVC 18s National Qualifier. Her best memory is when her team won a bid to nationals in the Salt Lake City Showdown Qualifier.
“It was an amazing game and we fought hard to win,” she said. “It was one of the best feelings.”
Welch said her favorite part about being on a team is the friends she has made along the way.
“Always having people to fall back on and trust, it’s very special,” she said.
She is excited to finally be a senior, and said the accomplishment has been “long awaited.”
Her academic goal for this year is to make an A in her EMT class, as “it’s really rare.”
"I want to end up passing my EMT course, which means I could be an EMT when I'm 18, which I'm turning 18 in October,” she said. “I just want to keep that grade average, high As and everything like that. It's always been a goal of mine.”
As for her athletic goal, she said she would love to go to the playoffs in volleyball again.
“I want to better prepare myself for college as a leader and hopefully break a record,” she said.
Welch has committed to play college volleyball at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas — but as for her career, her goal is not to become an EMT.
“I just want that for the experience,” she said. “I want to be a surgical orthopedic PA.”
Before heading to college, Welch said she would love to go on a mission trip to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and help people as best as she can.
When asked what she is personally most proud of, she said it’s her “consistency in the relationship” she has with the Lord.
"I've been working hard on that for about a year now,” she added. “I got saved about a year ago and I've been so much more fulfilled since then. Volleyball used to be my entire life, but now I have something else to live for, and I feel like that's probably my greatest accomplishment.”
