Student athletes awarded for their achievments

On Monday evening the Fall Sports Awards Banquet took place in the People’s Church Gym, Nov. 13. The banquet honored, football, both varsity and JV volleyball and tennis. The coaches all got a chance to share highlights and moments from the season, and present the players with awards, including MVP, coaches awards and more.

For football, senior Tyler Villines was awarded Most Valuable Player (MVP) and Anthony Leonardo, ‘19, was offensive player of the year. Defensive player of the year was awarded to senior Roman Endicott, and Brandon Krueger, ‘18, won the Coaches Award.

MVP, Villines, enjoyed getting to see how much the team grew and improved throughout the season. He feels that he owes the title of MVP to his fellow players, for all helping him do his job successfully.

“My favorite highlight from this football season was seeing where the team started out and where we are today, because the drastic change shows how hard they’ve worked all throughout the season and how much we’ve come together to get it done,” Villines said. “Of course I was honored, but the only reason I’m able to get MVP like that is because I have a team surrounding me. Honestly, at quarterback, you need the players all around you to perform.

“If the lineman doesn’t do their job, then you’re not going to be able to do yours, and if the receivers don’t do theirs, you can’t do yours,” Villines continued. “I’m just happy that I’m surrounded by brothers who are going to be able to get their jobs done so that they can make me look good.”

As a senior leaving behind his last season of high school football, Villines hopes that the team will remember that they are playing for a bigger purpose and to continue to give the glory to God.

“I just want them to remember to always work hard, and give glory, where glory is due,” Villines said. “That’s the biggest part of playing here at Fresno Christian is that we’re able to declare what we’re playing for and we have something to play for, and that’s God and his Kingdom.”

Tennis awards consisted of, Avery Jones, ‘20, was awarded MVP and Mariana Fikse, ‘18, who won the Eagle Award. Hannah Villines, ‘21, won both the Frosty Award and the Newcomer Award. Jones said she enjoyed getting to be with her teammates every day and that she was excited about winning MVP.

“My favorite part of the season was just getting to hang out with everyone every day,” Jones said. “I loved how encouraging everyone was because it really made it feel like a family. I was excited to win MVP. It was a great ending to a great season. Honestly, everyone on that team is MVP, and that is why I loved the tennis season so much.”

Girls tennis coach, Robert Foshee, is proud of the girls for fighting hard and displaying natural leadership. And coming out twice as good as they were last year.

“A favorite highlight of the season was, the tennis girls fighting through adversity and winning 5-4 against Fowler,” Foshee said. “It was an up and down contest, that ended with our number one doubles team pulling out the victory in a tiebreaker. The proudest moment in the season was seeing Mariana (Fikse) play tennis and be a leader on the team.

“She has invested a lot into the Fresno Christian tennis program and us coaches were happy to see her have success this season,” Foshee continued. “I would sum up the season as finishing with success and expectation for the coming year.  The girls finished 4th in the league, they finished 8th last year, and are ready to go even further next season.”

The JV volleyball team only gave out two awards. The first one was MVP awarded to Rebekah Micu, ‘20 and Hannah Van Noy, ‘21, won the Coaches Award.

Varsity volleyball awards went to McKensy Neal, ’18, MVP, Megan LeBlanc, ’20, won the Newcomer Award, Celeste Counts, ’18, was awarded the Coaches Award and Kaylie Clem, ’19, who won Most Improved. MVP, McKensy Neal, gives advice for upcoming players to share the power and have fun.

“I hope that the seniors of upcoming years will be encouraging to the team and not be power hungry,” Neal said. “Time passes so quickly and before you know it, it will be your last game. After the last point, you will go home crying no matter if it’s a win or a loss.”

Volleyball coach, Kit Maddox, reflects on the season with fondness. He loved the team, and how well they worked together and got along. He went into the season with stats that weren’t exactly appealing and came out defeating the odds.

“It is hard to pinpoint a single moment on when I was proudest,” Maddox said. “Amazing hearts, hard work ethics and a lot of fun. The proudest was when the season ended and I could reflect on how great or team was. I was proud of our team all year. They are such an amazing group of girls. At the beginning of the year, I was told that our team would be average finishing somewhere in the middle with a 5-5 record. We finished second with an 8-2 record. We won a playoff game and played two playoff games in front of our amazing Fresno Christian Crowd.”

The fall sports had overall successful seasons and are reflected upon with good memories.

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This author can be reached via twitter @toryntriplitt and via email: Toryn Triplitt.