Bitonti proud of volleyball growth
?The foundation for Frazier High School’s 2010 WPIAL girls’ volleyball championship began with a number of close-knit seventh grade girls who bonded into a tight group that became like a family, said Giovanna Bitonti.
The road to that championship is Bitonti’s fondest high school memory. She was an integral part of the team, while maintaining a class rank of 11 of 82 seniors, and keeping a grade-point average of 3.61.
Bitonti has been chosen as Frazier’s female recipient of the 2011 scholar/athlete award and will be joining 13 other 2011 Fayette County scholar/athletes who represent the county’s seven high schools. They, as well as two students from Penn State Fayette, will be honored during the third annual Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame Induction Banquet on Saturday, June 25, at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
Bitonti is the daughter of Dave and Kim Bitonti of Perryopolis and has an older sister, Christina.
Bitonti said this year’s senior members of the Lady Commodore volleyball team didn’t realize just what they were building when they came together in junior high school, but saw the pieces falling into place as their careers moved along, especially during this past season. “When we started playing together in seventh grade we stuck with it. This year we really bonded and became a family, along with the underclassmen,” she said.
The team’s WPIAL championship was Frazier High School’s first since the 1969 boys’ basketball team won the district title, and it was the first WPIAL championship for any girls’ program at the school.
Additionally, Bitonti was active at Frazier in the Interact Club, yearbook and newspaper staffs, Health Careers Club, was a member of the homecoming court a served as a football statistician. While in middle school, she was also a member of the cheerleading squad.
Bitonti credited Frazier volleyball coaches Mandy and Don Hartman as having had a major impact on her high school career.
As for her success in the classroom, Bitonti said, “When I would struggle (with a subject), I’d concentrate and push myself to do better.” She said the end of her high school career is “sad, but I’m ready to start a new challenge in my life.”
That challenge will begin next fall when she begins studies in elementary education at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, while also being a member of the school’s volleyball program.
When she was asked to offer advice to fellow students about succeeding in the classroom while balancing athletics and activities as well, she said, “If you work hard and practice hard, you can go anywhere to make your dreams come true. Anything is possible.”