Nov. 9, 2007

By Anthony Arroyo Journal-Advocate sports reporter Thursday, November 8, 2007 3:23 PM MST

ILIFF -- Caliche's Shawna Stieb has overcome a lot in her life, but that never stopped her from achieving her goals.

Last week, Shawna added to her achievements signing a letter of intent to play volleyball at Northeastern Junior College next fall for head coach Marci Henry.

The signing came the Thursday just before the regional tournament, where she helped her team finish second and move on to state.

"It definitely was an exciting weekend for me," Stieb said through a phone interview. "I've always liked NJC and if I was even going to play volleyball, it was going to be there."

Stieb always loved volleyball, but just like most with her God-given height, her sport of choice was basketball, at least until high school that is.

Entering ninth grade, volleyball slowly began to take over as her main sport of choice and after her freshman campaign, it was official. She didn't play any varsity her freshman year, but worked hard and got the starting nod her sophomore year.

Her hard work the remaining two years impressed her current coach, Jeanett Lambrecht.

"I think it's an awesome thing for Shawna and I am so proud of her," Lambrecht said. "She's wanted to go there for a long time and I'm so happy to see it come true. She has had to deal with a lot, but she did it. "I'm thrilled to see her play for a couple more years."

Among some of her achievements is playing for the U.S. National Deaf Volleyball team this winter, spring and summer. She will gain experience at a higher level before even coming to the college level, which is something that coach Henry feels is a benefit in itself.

"Shawna provides to be a threat on both the offensive side with her attacks and the defensive side with blocking," Henry said. "It will be exciting to see even more progression in her play when she comes back after training with the U.S. team."

There is just one more thing that Shawna would like to do before devoting her total focus on the future and that is to bring Caliche a state volleyball championship.

"I'm excited and pumped for this weekend," Stieb said. "We are ready and we feel like we will do well. We don't know much about our opponents, but we know if we come out to play, we can play with anybody."