Samantha Almodovar '25 Recruiting Profile

• We win when we work together, even when we are down- every point counts. 
  
  
  • I think this game is a great example of my tenacity on the court.
  • While playing beach volleyball this past summer, we were down by 10 points against a team with whom we were fiercely competitive. This is how we pulled out of it to win.
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• It was a very hot, humid Texas South Coast summer day. Temperatures close to triple digits and humidity closely catching up to the temperature, even though the tournament started at 7:00 am. It was the kind of day where clothes stuck to your skin and even your best efforts to adjust them always leads to their reattaching to your body in an even less comfortable position.  Despite the humidity and lack of coastal breeze that day, we looked forward to competing against our competitor- as we were friends at school. This was our first match against each other and this would determine which team would have bragging rights.
  
  Straight out of the gate, our opponents scored 10 humiliating, unanswered points against us. We dug deep, then even deeper. My partner, visibly flustered shanked the balls served to her one after the other. They were targeting her. We called for a break and regrouped. I helped my partner focus and together, we redoubled our resolve. After the break, we both returned to the court. When the game continued, we caught up, then surpassed them to win! Literally, blood, sweat, tears and perhaps a bit of vomit too if I'm being honest. But we won. Winning was really less about the score and more about not giving up.  The win was supporting my team mate and friend. 
  
  With a 10-point deficit, some people would give up and be mad, especially with the sauna-like conditions of the beach that morning. Anger solves nothing, but working together did. I play better under pressure and won't sacrifice my friend and team mate when under immense pressure.
  
  

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  This school year, our school Coach had to leave during the first week of practice. During the time between coaches, I helped mentor and coach the JV team. I loved it and want to pursue coaching after college. 

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  I grew up swimming (USA Swimming) and I think that had a positive impact on my muscle development and stamina. My best stroke is butterfly. The upper body strength needed for this stroke contributed to developing my volleyball skills. I've only been on the court since my High School Freshmen year. This year, I earned a spot on the 18 National team for Absolute Volleyball Association in Webster, Texas. (https://avatexas.com/). This is a highly-disciplined team and will no doubt take me to the next level with volleyball.
  
  For college in the Fall, I'm looking at preferably smaller institutions in Texas, or surrounding states, but looking at all states at this stage. 

What Makes Me a Unique Candidate: I only started volleyball my Freshmen year of High School. During my 4 years at O'Connell, our high school had 6 different volleyball head coaches. We weren't a bad team, it's just a small school with limited funds. As a senior, I just won District MVP and I helped lead my team to a District Championship this year- after 15 years since our school team last won district. Club volleyball has helped me up my game as well.