Tran reflects on career as she heads to collegiate level
Katrina Tran sets up her Lady Panther teammates. The Vindicator | Jerry Michalsky
LIBERTY – If you asked Katrina Tran how good a volleyball player she was in the seventh grade, well, it wasn’t something she would have written home about. Fast forward six years later and Tran is set to leave on July 31 to play college volleyball at Panola College.
The Liberty High School graduate is excited and ready for the next chapter of her life.
“I picked Panola because I really liked the coaching staff,” said Tran. “The head coach has great ethics and will straight up tell you what to work on. She will not sugarcoat anything.”
When Tran entered high school, she was immediately placed on the varsity team.
“Coach Slack has made such an impact on my volleyball career,” added Tran. “When I was a freshman, Coach Slack would also let me know what I needed to work on and helped me improve as a player.”
Tran had a stellar four years playing as a Lady Panther as she was named to the first-team all-district team as a sophomore and then was named Setter of the Year as a junior.
This past season she was named to the first team again. She topped that off by competing in the SETCA All-Star games last week in Volleyball and Basketball.
Tran is taking private lessons now to help her work on quicker reactions and speed. Katrina has also been playing club volleyball for the last six years with Team Excel and Houston Stellar, just to name a few teams.
Being one of her toughest critics, Tran believes the awards she won in high school have also helped her with confi dence as she heads to play at the collegiate level.
“ I am not worried about what everyone else does, I can only control myself and I am just going to have fun playing the game I love,” added Tran. “Volleyball is a very mental sport and you just have to learn from your mistakes and move in.
Tran enjoyed playing for Liberty and remembers fondly serving up an ace against Navasota to send the Lady Panthers to the Regional Quarterfi nals against a tough Bellville squad during her sophomore season.
‘That was a very exciting time and made for some good memories,” added Tran. “I am looking forward to playing at the college level and making some more memories.”