Harmony Science enjoying first volleyball season

The T-CAL state volleyball tournament in San Antonio is a nice reward for Harmony Science Academy's first season of volleyball, but it comes with a price.

The players have a history project to write about the Alamo.

"It's super exciting," Lady Tigers head coach Kendra Martin said. "I am overjoyed really for the experience, for them to have it."

While the Lady Tigers have been making history of their own during their inaugural season, the sport is hardly new to their coach.

Martin played college volleyball at Southern Methodist, earning All-America honors as a middle blocker as well as Conference USA's Defensive Player of the Year award in 2009. Then Kendra Kahanek, she finished as SMU's all-time leader in blocks.

She was teaching second grade and missing her sport last year.

"I just loved it so much, and I was asking our principal last year if I could coach," Martin said. "I was teaching as a second-grade teacher last year and this year I thought 'Why don't we start sports?'

"The athletics director and I talked, and we started sports. We got everything together, and it was almost the last week of school when we started. I just passed out papers to the girls and said that practices start Aug. 1, and we're going to get out there and try our best."

Along with her stellar credentials as a player, Martin displays a boundless enthusiasm for her start-up program.

"It's been so good, and we actually improved so much from the beginning," Martin said. "It was interesting when we played BVCHEA. They were like, 'This is the same team?' At the beginning it was really scary. We lost like 25-8 and 25-9. We actually took a game from them our last match we just had."

Harmony Science has five eighth-graders on its varsity with just one junior, Lorna Hale, and no seniors. The Lady Tigers added two freshmen during the season.

"When we started in August, it was all eighth-graders and one junior," Martin said. "We're very young."

Their practice court includes a makeshift outdoor net. The ground is hard enough that working on digs is almost out of the question.

Playing at the T-CAL Class 2A state tournament at San Antonio's Cornerstone Christian School is a highlight for many players because the gym is air-conditioned. Harmony Science will play Waco Live Oak Classical at 9 a.m. Friday

The Lady Tigers played only local teams from Allen Academy and BVCHEA, but Harmony Science is laying the groundwork for future success. It's a tall group of eighth graders that took up the sport for the first time.

There have been breaks between matches, but that has actually been a benefit.

"It was really good for our team because we needed the practicing," Martin said. "Seeing ourselves play another team, I would say, 'OK, watch how the girls are hitting, serving or setting' and then we can learn from it."

Martin also coached a club volleyball team while at SMU. She grew up in Houston, so the move to the Bryan-College Station area has her living in the smallest city she has ever known. At Harmony Science, she doesn't mind starting small, with the chance to grow more proficient. Playing at the T-CAL state tournament is part of the learning experience.

"When we get better and better, they'll know what to expect and what to prepare for," Martin said.