TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Coach To Wed After State Finals

ADVERTISEMENT

By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 28, 2007

PLANT CITY - Going from being unranked at the beginning of the year to the state finals is something not many could have predicted for the Durant High volleyball team.

Durant coach Dawn Hough scheduled her wedding so it wouldn't interfere with the finals, just in case.

It was a good thing.

The Cougar head coach will be getting married today, a week after her team finished its season. The Cougars were playing as late in the season as a team possibly could - in the Class 6A state volleyball final.

"I'm too careful a planner to have scheduled the wedding on that day," said the soon-to-be Dawn Andersen. "I knew when the state finals were. So it worked out. I got the best of both worlds."

Though her Cougars lost 3-0 to Gainesville Buchholz, neither Hough nor her players leave the season with any lingering sadness.

Durant didn't win its district the past three seasons and was trying to get past the second round for the first time since 2002.

The Cougars surpassed those goals, thanks to a determined and tight-knit group of players.

"When I do coach again, I don't think I'll ever have a group like this," she said. "The thing I'll remember most is they are noncomplainers. They absolutely would do everything asked of them."

The Cougars advanced to the state final Nov. 16 by defeating Jupiter 3-1. Against Buchholz, a team that Durant lost to earlier in the season, the Cougars were outmatched.

The state volleyball finals were held at The Lakeland Center.

At school Monday, Durant players were congratulated by students.

"I know there was a lot of smiling on campus. Kids were saying 'you guys finished second at state, that's awesome,' and so I don't think anyone's depressed about losing," Hough said.

Hough will leave the program, where she won a state title as a player, after two years as its coach. Her husband-to-be, Derek Andersen, took a job with an investment company in Fort Lauderdale in May.

After the wedding in St. Petersburg, the couple will live in Fort Lauderdale. Hough said she will step back from teaching and coaching to start a family.

Because this season went so well, Hough does not think she will miss coaching.

"I don't think I'll ever find a better situation," she said. "They were such a great group ... I think I hit the jackpot."

Reporter Darek Sharp can be reached at dsharp@tampatrib .com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT