Three-sport athlete lets her faith in Christ define her storms

By Billy Woods

WM School District

The last thing Samantha Holt remembers on perhaps the most fateful night of her young life was a bright flash of automobile headlights in her face.

Then everything went dark, she says.

And that's when the providence of God shaped her future, little by little.

Holt is a sophomore three-sport athlete at the Academies of West Memphis. She is about to embark on the biggest comeback of her life as she returns to compete in the three sports she loves most: volleyball, tennis and golf.

That she is nearly 100 percent physically ready to do so is nothing short of a miracle.

Friday, October 25, 2019 was supposed to be marked by a surprise from Samantha's mother, Shannon. On her husband Kevin's 50th birthday she "kidnapped" him and headed toward a weekend at Pickwick Lake in Tennessee. Shannon's mother, Linda Johnson, came to take care of Samantha for the weekend, with some help from Sam's older brother Kaiden, a freshman at Delta State University.

With rain and cooler temperatures moving in, Sam, Kaiden and grandma left the house for dinner, with Kaiden driving, grandma riding shotgun and Samantha in the backseat.

"Even before we left the driveway, I remember my brother telling me to buckle my seat belt," Samantha said. "He'd never before told me to buckle up while he was driving."

With only a few hundred yards left to reach their destination, a vehicle pulled out in front of them.

"I remember spinning around after I set my phone down," Samantha recalled. "I felt my brother slam on the brakes, and as I looked up I saw headlights in my face. Then I just don't remember much after that."

Meanwhile, as Shannon and Kevin made their way to the lake, they got a phone call that at first didn't startle them.

"We were literally about six miles away from the lake house when the phone rang," Shannon said. "It was from Kaiden. He was surprisingly calm and explained they'd been involved in an accident, that Samantha's mouth was bleeding and that they were going to the hospital. It was so encouraging to know that Kaiden stepped up to be the man in a situation that stressful. We immediately made a U-turn in the middle of the highway and headed back home."

The news at first wasn't frightful, but as the moments passed more news came forth. Three of Samantha's teeth had been knocked out.

Upon Kevin and Shannon's arrival at Baptist Crittenden Hospital, they were met by a doctor, who had taken X-rays of Samatha's jaw and neck.

"The doctor told us they'd found a shadow on her lung and that they wanted to X-ray further down the chest," said Shannon. "They told us they would transport her to LeBonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis. I initially suspected that the shadow was just some bleeding from where the seat belt had been. The doctor told us, though, that it was a tumor that was slightly larger than a baseball and it had been there for at least eight years. That's when I lost it. Kevin and I held hands and went in the hallway to pray over our child."

The doctor's finesse had very little consoling effect on the Holts. It hit them so suddenly, caught them so seriously off guard that their minds and hearts were in turmoil.

Samantha had not shown any symptoms from the mass in her lung. Just three months earlier she and her father were among a group of eight church members from First Baptist West Memphis on a mission trip to Brazil. And just a few weeks earlier Sam qualified for the Class 5A state tennis tournament and wound up finishing in the quarterfinals.

"There was no indication from those two events that Samantha's lung capacity was affected," said Kevin, who owns a physical therapy clinic in West Memphis. "Kids ordinarily don't get lung cancer."

Adding to the turbulence was the doctors' initial inability to define the mass.

First it was lymphoma, which sent a shock wave. Then it was histoplasmosis, a type of lung infection that is usually not fatal.

After further testing, Samantha was found to have Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor (IMT), which is an uncommon, usually benign, tumor. It usually develops in children or young adults. It is a self-contained tumor with a very low malignancy rate.

"The doctors told us we were in for a long road, but that he thought she'd recover," Kevin added. "That night in the hospital was a very difficult night for Shannon and I. We prayed through the night."

The primary course of treatment of IMT is surgical removal.

"We were like, 'Praise the Lord,' no chemo, no radiation, just remove the tumor," said Kevin.

The surgery was successful, and although Samantha had a longer stay in the hospital than was expected, the West Junior High ninth-grader made it back to school soon enough.

She is still building up her lung capacity as her three sports fall into the same season.

Her first tennis match was a convincing 8-2 singles victory against Paragould's Kathlyn McHaney. Although she doesn't consider herself a regular golfer, Samantha is quite adept. She shot a nine-hole score of 53 in her first match at Meadowbrook Country Club against Marion.

Sam says her favorite sport is volleyball, where she is a returner starter at libero for head coach Erica Lear's Lady Devils. Last season Holt set a new school record for digs in a single game, registering 57 in a Lady Devil victory over Searcy. She shattered the previous record of 39 set in 2009 by Elise Woods.

Samantha's Blue Devil school spirit never wavered during the dilemma. On the Thursday following the accident she attended the final football game at old Friendship Field.

"I was like 'I don't wanna miss this,'" Samantha said with a smile. "When I got there everybody was hugging on me and loving on me. It was really overwhelming, but I wanted to see everybody because I had missed them. I needed some encouragement that night and I got a lot of it."

Holt said her faith in Jesus Christ was strengthened by the events of Fall 2019.

"The whole time I was going through it, I kept telling my mom and dad that God's got this," she stated. "I had to keep saying that over and over to myself because I knew everything was completely out of my control. I couldn't control what was going to happen, only God could. I had a peace about it all the day I had my surgery because I knew that I had taken it to the Lord and that other people were praying for me.

"Honestly, I could see how God was shaping all this up. We would have never known I had the mass on my lung unless I had been in that car accident. If I hadn't leaned on Him through all this there's no way I could have gotten through it because I feel like I was happy through all of it, even in the hospital. If I hadn't had a relationship with Christ it would have been horrifying. I got into that car wreck for a reason. It's given me a chance to tell my story and bring honor and glory to Jesus."

As if she hadn't gone through enough already, the Covid-19 pandemic threw Samantha another huge breaking ball. She has chosen to go through much of the fall semester at the Academies of West Memphis with the virtual option at home.

"Originally, we were a little worried about me going back to school, since (the pandemic) affects the breathing," she added. "My lungs are almost healed and I'm getting to play my sports, but we just decided to play it safe and go virtual until maybe the spring semester."

Lady Devils absorb advice from national coach of year

By Billy Woods

WM School District

The West Memphis volleyball programs got a huge boost this past week when nationally prominent college coach Jenny McDowell and two of her staff members led a two-day camp at Lehr Arena.

McDowell, the head coach at Emory University, has coached her program to two NCAA Division III national championships, the last of which came in 2018 when McDowell was tabbed as the National Coach of the Year.

McDowell said her connection to Blue Devil head coach Erica Lear led her to West Memphis last week.

"Well, we've known each other almost 20 years," said McDowell. "While I was (interim) head coach at the University of Georgia, Erica was playing at the University of Tennessee. I've always admired her as a player and a person and then she coached with us at Emory for a couple of years. When she asked me if we'd be willing to do this I was so excited because I know she's investing her whole heart and passion into this program."

McDowell brought with her assistant coach Jona Braden and Briana Jones as well as Emory University senior right-side hitter Leah Saunders.

The Lady Devils return five starters from last year's team, including setter Presley Crader, libero Samantha Holt, Cymiya Stokes and hitters Delanie Johnson and Ta'Nya Burnett.

McDowell and her staff, along with Lear and her coaching staff, led the high school and junior high teams through new drills, all the while stressing fundamentals.

"Erica is one of the best coaches in the country, so we're just here to share our passion for the game," said McDowell. "We just want to collaborate with her. We say at Emory iron sharpens iron, so hopefully some of Erica's coaching will rub off on us as well."

Lear is also head junior high coach and she is assisted there by Mandy Hinze. Jeannie Crader serves as Lear's high school assistant and she is also the seventh-grade coach.

Since 1996, McDowell has led Emory University ot 24 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament, where her teams have advanced to the Sweet 16 20 times.

Hitter Kauffman signs with Henderson State

By Billy Woods

WM School District

As Chloe Kauffman awaited the festivities, there she sat in a folding chair at the table with her leg wrapped and in a bulky brace.

Kauffman, who signed a volleyball scholarship Monday with Henderson State University, tore her meniscus and ACL last month playing in a Metro league game in Nashville.

In the moments following, Kauffman's character was on display.

Instead of being rushed to the hospital, getting an MRI and receiving the bad news, there Kauffman was, on her team's bench, cheering on her teammates for the rest of the game.

"That's Chloe through and through," said her high school coach, Erica Lear.

Kauffman will spend all next season rehabbing from her injury, but she will receive a redshirt year and will have four full years to compete for the Reddies.

"The rehab process has already started," said Kauffman. "It'll be a long process, but I'll be back 100 percent."

Kauffman led the West Memphis Lady Devils in kills and blocks for two straight seasons. She also received recruiting interest from the University of Alabama-Birmingham and Texas International.

Kauffman, an all-conference selection her senior year, holds the West Memphis school record for most career blocks. In 193 sets played, Kauffman registered 393 kills, had 102 solo blocks and 219 total blocks.

Kauffman was also No. 5 in the 5A-East Conference in hitting percentage her senior season. She also was selected to play in the Queens of the Hardwood all-star game and she played for Memphis Metro five years for its elite team.

When asked what kind of college player Kauffman will be, Lear stated, "Oh my gosh, she's going to be a beast. She's super physical. She's one of the most gifted athletes I've ever worked with. Whatever she sets her mind to, she will conquer. I think she'll do really well, for sure."

Kauffman said her official visit to Henderson sold her on the Arkadelphia school.

"I loved it," she said. "It felt like home to me. Everybody there just welcomed me."

Kauffman said she plans on majoring in digital media, using it to work with professional sports teams.

Lady Devils' Nelson signs with Jacksonville State

By Billy Woods

WM School District

A few years ago, when West Memphis' Anna Nelson decided to go all in for Metro Volleyball, her coach, Erica Lear, wasn't quite sure what to make of the body language she saw that day.

"I wasn't sure she felt like she would want to do this," said Lear. "But she stuck with it and just got better and better."

And what it's led to for the Lady Devil senior is a scholarship she signed Thursday with Jacksonville State University.

Nelson's signing party packed the hospitality room at Lehr Arena with family, friends, Lady Devil teammates, Metro teammates and former coaches.

Nelson's bubbly personality stood out as she made a brief speech, thanking all that helped her get to Jacksonville State, a Division 1 school.

"I visited the school right after Christmas and I just loved it," said Nelson, a three-year starter as a libero and defensive specialist at West Memphis. "It was a beautiful campus, set right in the Smoky Mountains in Alabama. The dorms are great, and I met the team. They were all nice."

Nelson's first Metro coach eventually became her high school coach. Lear finished her first season as Lady Devils coach last fall.

Lear said she thinks Nelson will stand out once she gets to the Jacksonville campus.

"Anna is full of spunk and fire," said Lear, herself a former college volleyball player at the University of Tennessee. "Whatever she wants out of that college career is exactly what she's going to get. She's the kind of kid who puts 110 percent in. I don't think anything is going to stand in he way."

Nelson said Jacksonville State plays a beach volleyball season in addition to the regular indoor schedule.

"I've played a little beach volleyball, but at Jacksonville they are about to start up their beach season and it lasts about two months," Nelson stated. "Beach volleyball is harder because it's just harder to move in the sand. I'm just excited for the opportunity that it's going to give me because I couldn't get that anywhere else. I'm gonna get stronger, and I'm so excited."

Nelson said she will major in business and that she hopes to become a pharmaceutical sales rep.

Lady Devils fight in loss to Marion

The West Memphis Lady Devils went toe to toe with Class 5A power Marion Thursday night at Lehr Arena, before losing in four sets.

Marion won the first two sets 25-15 and 25-22 before the Lady Devils won set 3 25-23. Marion won the decisive fourth set 25-17

For the Lady Devils, senior hitter Chloe Kauffman had a team-high 13 kills and 3 blocks while fellow senior Anna Nelson had 15 digs and 1 ace. Cymiya Stokes led serving for West Memphis with 3 aces while freshman Presley Crader dished out a team-high 22 assists.

The Lady Devils are in action at the Blazer Blast at Valley View on Saturday before traveling to Greene County Tech on Tuesday.