When playing a match in volleyball, teammates rely on one another to yell “out” or “got it” to succeed, but that’s all part of the game. This year’s LakeHighlandsHigh School volleyball team is watching out for one of its own off the court.

Last Friday the bleachers lit up eyes with spirit, but instead of the traditional “red out” or “black out” T-shirts, about 500 people came dressed in pink.

In late August the team wore pink during a breast cancer awareness day at the Pearland tournament near Houston.

“We kind of turned it,” said Rachael Zreet, a senior volleyball player. “There’s a sophomore at our school who has recently been diagnosed with stage three melanoma, so we decided to aim it toward her as well — so we named [the effort] ‘Cats for the Cure.’”

Before being diagnosed with melanoma in April, Emily Obenhaus played volleyball on the LakeHighlandsFreshmanCenter team. 

“I think it’s really sweet that someone would do that for me,” Obenhaus said. “I didn’t know them. It’s been really sweet.”

“It really hit home for the girls,” head volleyball coach Melissa Christman said about Emily’s diagnosis.

After the tournament, “Cats for the Cure” took the effort one step further and started selling pink shirts to donate to cancer awareness organizations.

“We decided to have a pink-out night so everyone could wear pink shirts to support Emily,” Rachael said.

The community came to the game proud in pink to support the team.

As of earlier this week, the team had sold 530 t-shirts. Lake Highlands Ebby Halliday realtors Robin Nocross, Glen Christy and Jason Thomas helped supply the first 300 shirts to cut costs and increase profit for the girls’ donation.

“We raised a total of $5,000,” Rachael said. “We split it between the Melanoma Society and breast cancer organization called Bridge, which is for women without insurance.”

Christman said that the night was planned “100 percent” by the girls.

“They raised an incredible amount of money and worked really hard,” she said, noting that everyone helped, but that Rachael and senior Melanie Trostel invested the most time.

Though Emily couldn’t try out for the team this year because she was recovering, she’s still a part of it.

“I am the manager for the JV and sometimes varsity,” she said.

Emily said her mom thinks she’s coped “extraordinarily well.”

And Rachael agrees: “She has a positive attitude about everything. She doesn’t want anyone’s pity. She’s a very strong girl.”

Friday night proved to be a night of support, not pity.

“[There was] pink everywhere, bright pink,” Christman said. “And the other team [Skyline] even wore pink ribbons in their hair.”

The Cats beat Skyline in three, but that wasn’t the story of the night.

Lisa Zimmermann is the Richardson/Lake Highlands/Far North Dallas neighborsgo editor and can be reached at 469-330-5689 or via e-mail at lzimmermann@neighborsgo.com. Got a story, photo or video you'd like to share? Post them directly on neighborsgo.com. Got a story idea? E-mail it to me directly. For more about how neighborsgo.com works with our neighborsgo print editions, please visit neighborsgo.com/help.