St. John Lady Tiger fitting in well as a HCC Blue Dragon

What the Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragon fans have pleasantly realized about "St. John's Own" Teresa Wade's prowess with the volleyball comes to no surprise to the Tiger faithful.

Watching Teresa these last four years playing with the St. John-Hudson Tigers and winning the 1A State Championship three out of the last four years then placing third the other year they know what Blue Dragon fans are learning.

­­­Teresa, who has made a name for herself around the State, has gathered in many honors - "1A volleyball player of the year" twice, making All-State three years, chosen to play with the KVA All-Star volleyball team and even making the KBCA All-State basketball team plus many other honors.

"I didn't really have a hard time adjusting to Hutch Juco. All the girls are really great with helping out and the coaches are just as helpful." said Teresa. "From day one everyone got along picture perfect. It was like we were all a "match made from heaven". The only difference is I have about 50 people in some of my classes rather than 10, on a school note."

"I love playing for Hutch. I have so much fun all the time! All the girls here are good friends and everyone gets along like sisters. If we are down or if one person is down everyone knows exactly what to say to make them feel better and get back on their A game. I love the team and everything about playing here."

In a recent win against Barton County in three sets, Wade played the entire match doing the full rotation. Just shows that Teresa is as adept playing in the back court as she is in the front court.

Teresa made "Hutch Juco Volleyball Player of the Week" twice in the last three weeks. In one match she got 16 kills, but it was just like Teresa to credit her teammates saying "I'm not really too worried about my own stats as much as just how our team does as a whole. It's a team sport and I couldn't have had that many if we didn't have awesome passes and sets from the girls."

When asked why she didn't have her #11 on the back of her jersey, she replied, "I would've liked to have #11 but a sophomore already had it so I was fine with being a different number (#5). I realize I'm a freshman again and I don't get much of a say. I'm definitely going to try to get it next year though so my roommate Sam can get her #5 back."

The Dragons were ranked 19th in the nation but recently went off off the list. When asked, Teresa replied "When we were ranked, it felt awesome! Being ranked didn't only make us feel great it brought us a lot of attention, which can bring in good freshman. Which also means we will keep getting better and better. We knew being up in the rankings was a big deal and we're trying to get back to it. (We lost two games in the Hutch tournament so we aren't in the rankings anymore)."

"I love being able to see my family every week" said Teresa. " Especially leaving home and missing everyone anyways it's always really exciting seeing all of them in the stands. Teresa and Tara Christie, Haley Falk, Tia Smith, and Alexis Witt and their families have all been to a Hutch game or two and I love seeing them there. I like being able to look out and see familiar faces."