Senior Profile: Three-sport star plays it cool in Maxwell

Its easy to overlook Maxwell High senior Ashley Azevedo. She isn't particularly tall, nor is she loud and flashy, but once the game starts her ability stands out.

Azevedo is the only three-sport senior athlete at Maxwell and she plays a key role on each team. She played opposite on the volleyball team, guard on the basketball team and middle infield for the softball team.

First-year Maxwell volleyball coach Dan Gellermann noticed something special about Azevedo the first time he met her at practice.

She was a step ahead of everybody else, and Azevedo understood what Gellermann was trying to teach before he got there.

"Halfway through the practice she understood something I was telling them and I realized this girl is really paying attention and knows what is going on, which was striking, she was above the curve," he said.

Not only was she able to pick things up quickly, she is coordinated and athletic, all of which allowed her to play opposite the setter, Gellermann said.

"It's a job where consistency is critical and she always made a right play and always did it well. She hits from the right side which is awkward for a right-handed player," he said.

As good as she was on the volleyball court, she's better on the basketball court and the softball diamond, her two favorite sports.

"Basketball and softball, I can't really chose between the two," Azevedo said.

In the Panthers' first basketball game of the season against Princeton on Tuesday, she scored a game-high 14-points.

Last season the basketball team made the playoffs but Azevedo thinks the team is ready to go even farther this year, even though she is the only senior starter on the team.

"I think we started off when were we left off, so I think we'll do great this year — better than we did last year," she said.

The 17-year-old will turn her focus to softball in the spring where she will try to win a fourth Northern Section Division VI title.

As a junior on the softball diamond last year, she hit .483 with eight doubles, six triples and a home run while tying for the team lead with 33 RBIs. She was a force on defense as well, making just four errors in 22 games while splitting time at second base and shortstop.

So far her favorite memory from her senior year is beating Colusa in five sets during the volleyball season, and after high school she plans on going to college but hasn't decided where she is going to go yet.

CONTACT Kirk Barron at 458-2121 or kbarron@tcnpress.com.