Junior Catie Tassinari has been playing volleyball for nine years. Starting in the third grade with her twin sister, Gabbi, the two have been playing together ever since. 

Initially only playing for two months of the year through her school and the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), Tassinari eventually progressed into playing volleyball at a higher level, playing for North Clackamas Volleyball Club (NCVBC). After playing for NCVBC, Tassinari decided to tryout at a couple of new clubs.

One of these clubs was Portland Chaos Volleyball Club, which is the club she plays for to this day. 

Upon coming to La Salle, Tassinari started on the JV2 team as a freshman, and then moved up to JV her sophomore year. Now as a junior, is on the varsity team. 

“I think freshman year was the most influential because the season had started before school, so I was able to meet all these different people that I hadn’t known before, before school even started,” Tassinari said.

In addition to volleyball, Tassinari has also played golf at La Salle, is on Executive Student Council, is co-president of the Asian American Pacific Islander Club, and is a Starbucks barista. 

This year on the varsity volleyball team, Tassinari is hoping that the team will get to go to playoffs, as this is one of the team’s goals for the season.

Tassinari is very fond of her coaches, Anna Dillard and Patty Jayne, at La Salle and “can really appreciate how much they’re been pushing [the team] this season,” she said. Especially since last year’s season was up in the air due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tassinari said this year has been more focused on growth. “I think that that’s going to have a really big effect on how we play in games, and how we progress through the season,” she said.

Despite her love and appreciation for both of her La Salle coaches, Tassinari’s favorite coach throughout her volleyball career was Nerisa Laban, who Tassinari called Coach Nerisa. 

“She blended hard work and fun so well that it made every practice and every game just that much more enjoyable,” Tassinari said. “It made me fall in love with the sport when I was starting to fall out of it.”

As Tassinari looks to the future, she hopes to continue playing in college, but “it’s getting harder to manage school and sports,” she said. “If that’s something that I can learn this year and next year then I’ll definitely want to continue.”

Staying on top of her schoolwork is an obstacle for Tassinari, but despite the challenge, she greatly values the relationships she has been able to make through her extracurriculars.

Out of all of the activities Tassinari participates in outside of school, she prioritizes volleyball the most. Tassinari said she has learned so much from the sport, and made so many amazing friendships along the way.