Oct. 8, 2009
West Point, N.Y. -- Volleyball setters do most of the work and get a fraction of the glory. But it's a role that senior Maureen Bannon has relished since her arrival at West Point in 2006.
Although it's the big-time hitters that typically garner much of the attention and grandeur, Bannon has managed to do well for herself in four seasons wearing the Black, Gold and Gray. A two-time Patriot League Setter of the Year, she has proven once again to be one of the league's top players in her final year at West Point. Lauded the Patriot League's top player for three of the last five weeks, she has been the catalyst behind the early success that a young, inexperienced Army team takes into this weekend's conference doubleheader at Lafayette and Lehigh, sporting a 14-3 record with conference wins over Bucknell and Colgate already under its belt.
A natural setter in every sense of the word, Bannon got her first sniff of volleyball in a fourth-grade physical education class. She started learning the basic fundamentals and quickly realized a talent and passion for a game that continues to be wildly popular in her home state of California. Bannon started playing organized volleyball on the club circuit a year later and grew up watching legends like Olympic gold medalists Misty May and Kerri Walsh play on sandy white beaches literally just blocks from her house.
With volleyball firmly entrenched in her system, Bannon was a standout on the Marymount High School varsity team in her hometown of Manhattan Beach, Calif. She also played year-round on the highly competitive Sports Shack club team out of Beverly Hills. Current Army head coach Alma Kovaci, who was then in her third year as an assistant on the Black Knights' staff, first saw Bannon at a tournament in Anaheim, Calif., and was instantly intrigued.
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Courtesy of Tracy Nelson, Army sports information
