Lady Bulldogs Successful on and off the Court

The Alexander High School volleyball team is known as a powerhouse. Here is something you might not know - all 18 athletes on the varsity roster met the qualifications for the District 30-6A All-Academic team - a first in at least a decade.

 

That means that every member on the varsity roster earned a GPA of 92 or above. The Texas University Interscholastic League rules require a 70 average to remain eligible for high school sports.

 

But these young women hold a much higher expectation for themselves, said Coach Ariana Bermea Mendoza, who added that this is the first time in her 10 years at AHS that every single member on the varsity roster earned this honor. The team advanced to the Sweet 16 this year.

 

“When you surround yourself with like-minded people and you have the support system from home and from school and from each other, I think it allows them to flourish in many ways besides just as volleyball athletes,” Coach Bermea said.

 

“Academics should always be a priority. That’s what they need in order to pursue their career goals. And they’re going to be great at whatever they do. Whatever it is that they choose, whatever path,” she added. “I know that they’re going to be excellent because they do an amazing job here with us. And I’m just very thankful for the effort and dedication and commitment that they’ve given us during their time as athletes here.”

 

Eva Martinez, a senior who has a weighted GPA of 106, takes college classes through the Early Start Pathway and Advanced Placement classes. She had to leave a tournament early to take the SAT. Eva has applied to The University of Texas-Austin and hopes to hear good news in January. She wants to pursue a degree in biology with a career goal of working in the medical field.

 

She stressed that Coach Bermea always made academics the top priority. And the students made sure to find time for their studies. They used the bus rides to finish homework assignments and they scheduled their school work before and after practice.

 

“I know the teachers are very helpful with giving you time because we go to tournaments and we go to games and miss some school … but the teachers are very understanding, and coach gives us a lot of time to work on our stuff,” Eva said.

 

“I know for me, during my junior year, it would take me at least two hours after practice to be able to finish all my work for school because they were hard classes. But it’s doable. It’s very doable to have a good GPA and be able to do well in your sport as well,” she added

 

Fellow senior and teammate Andrea Garcia, who has a weighted GPA of 105, also applied to UT-Austin and plans to pursue civil engineering - a field she said interested her because her father is an architect.

 

She also wanted to highlight the team’s on-court performance as well. 

 

“I’m just so proud of how we performed. It’s taken a lot of time, a lot of sacrifice, but just being able to execute, which I know we fell short in Sweet 16, but just knowing the steps it took to get there and just trusting all the work we’ve put in, it means a lot. I’m really proud of us,” Andrea said.

 

Coach Bermea said that high school student-athletes often have a laser-like focus on their sport and academics, particularly if they want to play at the collegiate level.

 

“We need to give them a little bit of time to still be a kid and be a high school student. And I think sometimes that it gets lost in the day-to-day routine,” she said. “The standards that they have for themselves in the classroom and then the standard to perform at a high level with us … so the pressure of performing at a high level in the classroom and on the court year round is becoming a new norm. You have to credit the kids that are able to juggle that and handle all of that. And I think they, considering they’re 14,15,16 and 17-year-olds, they handle that with a lot of grace.”

 

And while every single member on the AHS varsity roster earned this honor, the other high school volleyball teams in our district also did very well academically.

 

Fifteen of the 16 Lady Longhorns earned a spot on the All-Academic team, 13 Lady Panthers earned a spot and seven of the Lady Wolves earned a spot as well.

 

United ISD wishes them all a very sincere congratulations on their success on the court as well as off the court!

L-R: Eva Martinez, senior, AHS Head Volleyball Coach Ariana Bermea Mendoza, and Andrea Garcia, senior