SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: Sheriden Stangohr

Just keep swinging

Sheriden Stangohr is one of the most undersized and underestimated middle blockers in the Southern Conference. Checking in at 5-feet 10 inches, Stangohr ranks in the top ten of half of the statistical categories in the league and even ranks in the top 40 nationally in one of those categories.

She comes in at sixth in hitting percentage, fourth in kills and second in blocks in the league statistical rankings and has been ranked No. 31 in the nation in aces per set for the past month. Last season, she was ranked 15th in the nation in blocks in September and finished her junior season ranked among the nation's 50 best blockers.

She ranks as the all-time four-year career hitter in Samford history with a career average of .300. She became the all-time leader in block assists on Sept. 18 versus Memphis in the Memphis Invitational and most recently, she notched 1,000 kills in her career at Chattanooga on Oct. 21. She is the second Bulldog in two years to accomplish this feat. She also ranks ninth on the career block solos list with 59.

Like her fellow classmates, Stangohr is a product of having a full sports resume as a child. Although her parents never played athletics, she was involved in every sport imaginable - soccer, softball, volleyball, basketball, track and even karate. Although, she claims her karate days were short-lived because, "Who wants to go in on Saturday?"

She narrowed the field down to three in high school - volleyball, basketball and softball - but after figuring out that basketball just wasn't her sport, she traded that in for club volleyball. She played softball until she was a sophomore in high school and soon began running track.

The variety of sports played by Stangohr is telling of why she is so good at what she does on the court. She is faster, jumps higher and sees plays better than most middle blockers she faces on a weekly basis.

While most people were signing letters of intent their junior year of high school, Stangohr said she really had not had too many offers. The one that sticks out in her mind was Washburn, a liberal arts college in Topeka, Kan. However, Stangohr was not sold. For starters, it was in Kansas.

"It's cold there," said the Shawnee, Kan., native. "And it's Kansas!"

After living there all of her life, Stangohr was ready to see another part of the world - preferably a warmer part of the world.

Soon Stangohr was contacted by Michelle Durban, Samford's head coach at the time. She took a visit, really liked what she saw in Birmingham and realized that Samford was the only school that she really wanted to go to.

"The campus was pretty, it was far away and it was warm here," Stangohr said, checking off her must-have list. "The team was also really nice and welcoming." Check.

Stangohr came to Samford with the hope to really make a difference and turn the Bulldog program around. What she didn't know was that she would be part of a class that laid the foundation for a successful future for Samford volleyball.

In her freshman season, the Bulldogs only won six matches. However, as a sophomore, she helped lead her team to the first winning season in program history. As a junior, she played a part in capturing Samford volleyball's first-ever league division title and led the Bulldogs to post-season play for the first time since 2001.

There is an attitude that Stangohr acquired as a Bulldog that helped her be a part of Samford's success.

"Just keep swinging," Stangohr said. "Just keep going. Even when you are messing up, you are bound to hit one in bounds. You just have to think of it that way. And if you don't think of it that way, and you keep thinking about the error you just made, it's just going to make it so much worse. And it's really hard to get out of that."

She also said that she used to get scared and nervous before matches. Now she just remembers that she has a whole team backing her up.

Stangohr said that the thing she loves and will miss most about Samford is the built-in friendships that come with being on a team.

"Since I've been here, my best friends have come from the team," Stangohr said. "And I see them everywhere. And I don't get sick of them. I could see them 20 times a day and I wouldn't get sick of them. It's nice when you have seven new freshmen come in because, there you go, you have seven new best friends. So, you're guaranteed 14 best friends forever and you get more every year. I think that's really cool."

She will graduate in May with a bachelor's degree in marine science. In five years, Stangohr said she hopes to be living somewhere warm, working at an aquarium.

"I'd just be happy if I really just worked in an aquarium for my entire life," Stangohr said. "I feel like I go to places like that and I just know that that's what I'm supposed to be doing."

For now, Stangohr will savor the moments and continue to work hard. She'll be grateful for the wins and appreciate the lessons that come from losses, but the work is not over until that trophy is given away. And Stangohr and the rest of the Bulldog squad want to be holding that trophy when all is said and done.