By:   Julia Neiva and Tracey Martins

WHS senior Mary Kate Lehman has been playing volleyball  since her freshman year and  now has earned the position of co-captain on the varsity team. As she approaches her final year of high school, she looks back at the people and events that have shaped who she is as both a volleyball player and a person.

Lehman found her love of volleyball when she attended a WHS volleyball camp in 2010. There she fell in love with the counselors who at the time were her biggest role models. Her mom and WHS varsity volleyball Coach Anderson encouraged her to tryout for the team freshman year. She says that “Westborough volleyball has shaped who I am today.”

She also talks about the important lesson she has learned from this experience which is “something I look forward to everyday because it [volleyball] has taught me no matter how many times you fail, or how many times you screw up, you can always keep working hard and you can always get better.”

A major part of volleyball that Lehman values is the position she plays, libero. Playing that position allows her to hustle and work with all the players on the team. She loves the feeling of defense and the feeling of having a good dig. An interesting fact about her position is that she actually started playing volleyball as a setter during her freshman year.  

Lehman’s years of volleyball experience have also come with some embarrassing and funny moments. For example, she is a libero, so she only plays back row. She claims she will never be a hitter but hits occasionally from the back row. Lehman’s embarrassing stories take place during the times where she has attempted to hit from back row and  missed, or taken a ball to the face or head.

Some of Lehman’s highlights of the volleyball program so far have been pasta parties,  successful captains practices, and big sister/little sister. Every season, each person on the three teams has two people who are their “sisters.”  The purpose of big sister/little sister is to provide support for both volleyball and life.   

Lehman’s favorite parts of volleyball are: being on a team, reaching out to others, and getting to see the behind the scenes. Out of the whole four seasons that she has been a part of the team, she says that Dig Pink, a game played by WHS volleyball teams in the month of October that honors breast cancer awareness is her favorite part of the season.

Not only is she on the volleyball team,  but she also takes part in the club Best Buddies here at Westborough High.  How is she able to juggle school, Best Buddies, and volleyball?  Lehman’s key to handling a busy schedule is time management. She manages her workload by getting a lot of stuff done on the weekend and turning off her phone during homework time.

After graduation, Lehman plans on having a good summer with friends and family. She wants to go to college for special education with a minor in psychology. She won’t be playing volleyball at the collegiate level , but she plans on possibly playing intramural and club volleyball.  As her final year of high school rolls up, she will miss the coaches, the people that she has grown up playing with, and her dear friend and teammate fellow senior Emily Hannan.

As for advice for the next senior class, Lehman advises “surround yourself with people that make you feel good, and be the person for others that makes them feel good.”