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| Paloma Valley High School Athletes of the Week (from left): Samantha Bateson, Maria Volkoff, Joseph Hansen, Elliott Smith. |
Samantha Bateson, outside hitter for the girls volleyball team, has proven to be a leader on offense for the Wildcats. In a recent victory over Murrieta Mesa, she had 11 kills with no errors from her front-line position.
Bateson followed that up last week with strong performances in wins against Perris and Heritage. She has improved her spiking form greatly in just her first year on the varsity squad after moving up from the JV team.
"I'm hitting the ball harder now; it goes straight down now," said Bateson. "I worked on snapping my wrist more."
Maria Volkoff, a junior member of the girls tennis team, has dominated the competition in recent matches, says her coach, Alison King.
"Each week, Maria continues to improve her tennis game and each week she continues to score big points for the Lady Wildcat tennis team," King said. "As a junior, Maria leads the team by her hard work and dedication on the court as well as in the classroom."
Cross country runner Joseph Hansen posted the second fastest time on his team (16:21) at the recent Sunny Hills Invitational. He also has posted times of 16:05 at the Woodbridge Invitational and 16:29 at the Inland Empire Championships.
"Joseph ran a stellar race at the Sunny Hills Invitation," coach Joe Ellett said. "He is improving his racing strategy each week. It will be exciting to watch how well he can finish this season."
Hansen acknowledged his change in race strategy.
"Before, my main problem was, I'd just start to run and stay there," he said. "You have to watch your pace. You move up through the course, you try to stay with one runner, then you decide when to make a move. The race is too long to just run out front and go all out the whole race."
Running back Elliott Smith of the football team had an outstanding first half of the season and really hit his stride in a 49-34 win over Temecula Valley Sept. 27. With Demarco Prewitt sidelined by injury, Smith took charge of the running game, gaining 125 yards on 28 carries with one touchdown. He also performed well on defense.
Unfortunately, Smith suffered an injury of his own last Friday in the Wildcats' 35-29 win over Elsinore. According to Smith, an injury to his right leg was diagnosed as a tibia plateau displacement -- a bone dislocation that will keep him out the rest of the season.
"I'm pretty satisfied with what I did the first half of the season," Smith said. "I'll be out there pulling for the team."
Each of the players received a certificate in recognition of the honor and a T-shirt from the school's athletic department.
