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Jordin Burford was listed as an all-Frontier League honorable mention player by the league's coaches, and in the sophomore's season, the entire team's was mirrored.

Burford didn't lead the Wildcats in any of the flashy statistics. She didn't have the most blocks and didn't have the most kills.

One of the shorter girls on a chronically short team, she entered the season a sophomore without a hint of varsity experience and no defined role in first-year coach Jenny Barnhart's schemes.

"Jordin is highly competitive and a natural athlete," Barnhart said. "She is a great student of the game and her willingness to learn and improve puts her up there with some of the best kids I've coached in the last 15 years."

De Soto entered 2007 without any of its most experienced players from the season before -- only three returned with any varsity experience.

Short, young and inexperienced is no way to go through a volleyball season.

The Cats opened their season at home, going 2-1, but struggled as they hit the road. The lack of offense caught up to them on the first big road trip, a tournament at Lansing.

Slowly the team developed a defensive identity, however, and it began to pay off when the squad traveled to Marion.

"Our trip to the Marion Tournament (was a highlight)," Barnhart said. "We finished third, but had a great trip even though we had to leave at 5:30 a.m."

Burford began to hang her playing time on defense as well, finishing the year as the team's leader with 193 digs.

"At the start of the season her role wasn't really defined until she carved it out for herself by becoming a great defensive player with a strong serve," Barnhart said.

The team's improving defense paid off when the team returned home. The Wildcats lost, but pushed Sumner Academy to three games, then beat Jefferson County North in three.

The Wildcats spoiled senior night for Louisburg, knocking off the Frontier League foe in three games several days later.

Burford wasn't the only Cat to develop as the season went along. Junior Amber Laudick, one of the few Cats with varsity experience, finished as the team's leader in assists with 201. Junior Carlie Burnett led in serve-receive efficient at 1.85.

Freshmen Laura Lambert and Erika Titus emerged as strong players at the middle hitter position, Lambert finishing the year with a team-best 88 kills despite missing the final two weeks with an ankle injury.

"Those two girls did a fine job for me this year as freshmen middle hitters. They were great students of the game and were willing to learn new positions," Barnhart said. "They took their positions seriously. They are both very coachable."

The Cats slide through the last few weeks of the season, struggling at home at their Spikefest tournament, then at the Frontier League tournament without the emerging Lambert. Their season ended in the first round of the sub-state playoffs with a two-game loss to eventual state runner-up St. James Academy.

"Losing Laura to an ankle injury prior to the league tournament was tough," Barnhart said. "Our inexperience really hurt us. Teams were fine-tuning their game and I was still instructing our girls with some basic offense and defensive principles."

Now Barnhart is hoping the experience her team picked up in her first season can combine with a new dose of offseason dedication. If so, she said it could be the Wildcats fine-tuning their game down the stretch in a year, a big improvement on this season's 5-29 campaign.

"Many of the DHS volleyball players are not sport-specific athletes. I will encourage them to play club ball and attend some clinics," Barnhart said. "They were a great group of highly coachable kids who wanted to learn the game of volleyball and perform it at the highest level of performance possible.

"What more could I want?"