Cassidy Stankowski

SOUTH DEERFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - The best girls volleyball team in Western Mass has a 14-year old freshman as its captain. Frontier's Cassidy Stankowski is the 22News athlete of the week.

"I think my favorite celebration is our spike cheer", says Stankowski.

She gets to do that a lot. Frontier's fabulous freshman is among the league leaders in kills and is also a team captain.

"I really like to help out the team, I like giving encouragement and motivating my teammates. I feel I need to step up and help the players on the court and on the bench", says the freshman.

A freshman with experience. Stankowski has already been a part of two Western Mass championship teams.

Frontier coach Sean MacDonald addds, "we were loaded with seniors last year, she had her place and the seniors had their place and now she's kind of moved up into a leadership role on our team."

One of those seniors, Cassidy's sister Alyssa, who is a freshman on Westfield State's team. Cassidy is still getting used to not having big 'sis' next to her on the court.

"It's a little strange, but she's doing great and I wish her the best."

Cassidy's best skill is her hitting ability and that will only improve with age.

"The thing she's working on is her vertical jump, she's touching 9 feet 5 inches, that’s' 2 feet above a women's volleyball net", says MacDonald.

The higher she jumps, the harder she hits, the more she gets to celebrate.