Volleyball
Favorite athlete: Cristiano Ronaldo
Favorite team: Real Madrid
Favorite memory competing in sports: Playing alongside my best friends.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Probably one of the many times I’ve wiped out or gotten hit in the face with the ball.
Music on iPod: Miley Cyrus
Future plans: Go to college and become a Speech Pathologist
Words to live by: “Live and let live.”
One goal before turning 30: I want to go skydiving.
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m pretty artistic, and I like drawing.
By Mary Jane Souder
Cecilia Weir was born to play defense.
“In every sport I played, I really was defensive,” the William Tennent senior said. “It was what I always did. It’s what I like about the game.”
Few play defense better than Weir, who has set the standard for the libero position at Tennent.
“You do get spoiled,” coach Brian Bassler said. “She made me look smart. She made my job easy.
“I didn’t have to do too much coaching. I just let her go, and she’s picking up balls that nobody has any business picking up. You can see the other team rolling their eyes like, ‘What am I supposed to do?’ That’s a great weapon to have.”
And quite a weapon the player known simply as ‘CC’ has been. It’s not a coincidence that during the past three years with Weir anchoring the defense the Panthers were 46-13 with two playoff wins.
Bassler, for one, can’t imagine life without his standout defensive specialist in the back row.
“I think we can be very good next year, and we obviously don’t want to take steps backwards, but what she has meant to the program and what she has been able to do – the success speaks for its,” Bassler said. “We have never had a defensive team like we had the past couple of years with her in there.
“We’ve always been more on the offensive end, figuring out ways to get it done. This kind of totally changed the dynamic.”
In a sport dominated by tall players and big kills, Weir has quietly and without fanfare been a difference maker. The Panthers defeated perennial SOL National Conference power Pennsbury for the first time last year. They did it again this year.
“Against their offense, we just wouldn’t have been able to get it done without her,” Bassler said.
Last year, the Panthers made history when they earned their first ever district playoff win, a five-set win over Central Bucks South.
“She obviously was instrumental in that,” Bassler said. “It was a 19-17 fifth set win, and that’s her picking up balls. A couple points here and there and we don’t win that match. It’s those balls that she saves.
“From the time she started her sophomore year, our record is crazy for us. We had some winning seasons before and we had made the playoffs, but that really was a culture shift for us.”
Weir got her first taste of competitive sports in second grade when she began playing soccer. She added CYO volleyball in fifth grade.
“It gives everyone an advantage because a lot of people don’t start playing until high school or middle school,” Weir said of playing CYO volleyball. “It gets people started earlier.”
Weir was an integral part of Log College Middle School’s team that did not lose a match in two years.
“In middle school, we didn’t really have positions,” she said. “Everybody just rotated around, everyone played everywhere.
“My ninth grade year when I tried out, they just put me in as a defensive player, and that’s what I started doing. To be realistic, I’m kind of on the shorter side, so I was okay with it. I definitely loved it right away.”
Weir also excelled, and when she arrived on the high school scene, she had to choose between soccer and volleyball.
“It was tough, but at the same time, I knew I was going to wind up playing volleyball,” she said. “ “I realized I liked volleyball more.”
She continued playing soccer at the club level with VE Erzgebirge through her junior year. She also played club volleyball, most recently playing for High Line. Weir is not only a game-changing defensive player, she also excels at the service line, something her coach says she learned during her years playing at Log College.
“They didn’t lose a match in her career, and her serving was a big part of that,” Bassler said. “She had one of the best serves coming through, and that really kind of carried the team when she was down there.”
Weir downplays her serving prowess in middle school.
“Since it’s so new to everyone, the game is basically serving,” she said. “You get aces or you don’t get aces.
“We were all athletic, and if you’re athletic you could serve the volleyball, so that’s what everyone basically could do.”
Weir has been the Panthers top server.
“We scored the most points this year out of her serving rotation,” Bassler said. “Her serves are just so aggressive and consistent, and she’s smart. We were able to roll off a lot of points when she was back there.”
A captain, Weir was a leader of this year’s Panther squad that reeled off a school record 19 straight match wins.
“I think being a senior she embraced a leadership role,” Bassler said. “She was our MVP as a junior, but I don’t think she ever looked at herself as a leader until she was a senior.
“I think she went through that natural progression of – ‘It’s their turn to lead, and I’m going to let them do it. When it’s my turn, I’ll step up and do it,’ and she did.”
The Panthers finished second behind Pennsbury in the conference standings and advanced to the second round of the district playoffs, finishing the season with an impressive 20-4 record.
“We had high expectations, but we also were happy with how we ended up,” Weir said. “I’m just lucky that my senior year was the best we’ve had so far.
“A lot of people – their senior year might not be the best one, but since I’ve been in ninth grade, we’ve gotten better every year.”
When it comes time to choose a college, Weir will consider academics first.
“Right now I’m thinking school before sports, so I’m not positive whether I’ll be playing in college or not,” she said. “I always put school first before everything, and I guess it paid off in the end. I’m hoping to go to a good school.”
Penn State is at the top of her college list, and she also is considering La Salle and Temple. She plans to major in speech pathology.
“I have always had such a hard time trying to find something I would want to do,” she said. “When we were researching in school one day in computer class, I came across speech pathology, and I was immediately interested in it.
“You help people, and it’s biology, which was my strong point in school.”
In addition to excelling in the classroom, Weir also is involved in student government and Powder Puff football.
“She’s very well liked at the high school,” Bassler said. “She puts herself in good situations inside the classroom and outside the classroom.
“She’s a hard worker. She’s a mature girl. You know people who are going to be successful whatever they end up doing, and she’s one of those people.”
While volleyball will not be her reason for choosing a school, Weir is hoping it will be part of her future.
“She’s somebody I really didn’t have to coach that much,” Bassler said. “I just cut her loose.
“It was something where her instincts were so good, and she was so positive and focused on the court. As a coach, you just don’t want to get in her way. You just let her go, let her play, let her anchor the defense and do what she has to do.”
For the past three years, Weir quietly was the unsung hero of a Tennent volleyball squad that reached new heights.
