McHi's Garcia takes passion to Prairie View A&M

McALLEN - From her freshman days as a junior varsity player to her last game as a McAllen High Lady Bulldog, all Sarah Garcia could think as she stood on the volleyball court for the last time against Harlingen South was, "I can't believe it's over."

Garcia recalls the November area-round playoff game against the Lady Hawks, in which the Lady Bulldogs were eliminated, as one of her fondest moments at McHi because of the passion her team played with. Now eight months later, the former libero has been given a chance to continue her volleyball career as she signed a letter of intent Thursday to play for Division I Prairie View A&M this fall.

"I'm really excited about signing with Prairie View A&M," Garcia said. "It's always been my dream to play college volleyball and now that it's here I couldn't be more honored to represent the (Rio Grande) Valley and go up there and do my best.

"I always watch volleyball on ESPN and I've always wanted to be one of those girls that play at that level so to actually get the opportunity to play is amazing and surreal. I've always dreamt about this but I never really pictured it happening and now that it's here I'm anxious to start."

The defensive specialist concluded her senior year with a team-high 562 digs and scored 91 points. She also led the team with an 82 percent passing rate plus a 92 percent serving rate. Her efficiency comes from 10 years of volleyball experience, dating back to her recreational days. At the age of 10, Garcia became a member of the Rio Grande Valley Juniors program, who helped her receive her full scholarship from the Panthers.

"One of the things that is obvious about Sarah is that she is very self-driven," said Oscar Segovia, a coach for RGV Juniors. "She is very focused and goal-oriented which made it very easy for a coach like myself to teach (her) some of the ideas and techniques that we use in the sport of volleyball."

RGV Juniors, in its 15th year of existence, is an all-year volleyball program that keeps local athletes up to par with the new drills and language used at the collegiate level and helps players get recruited. They have helped standouts such as McAllen Memorial's Amanda Garcia and Sharyland's Jacquelyn Lopez receive scholarships.

Garcia, who will major in nursing, also received bids from Laredo College and Our Lady of the Lake University but chose Prairie View because of its scholarship offer and strong nursing program. She is currently conditioning with local trainer and former University of Texas-Pan American kinesiology professor Jaime Cavazos three times a week and participates in several volleyball matches.

Garcia is scheduled to leave Aug. 8 and begin three-a-day practices August 11, taking her Valley roots along.

"I'm excited to represent the Valley and represent it good," Garcia said. "I hope I can make everyone here proud."