Connelly’s Telford Decides to Do an About Face : Prep volleyball: She turns down West Point appointment to play for Hofstra.

Sarah Telford has been wooed by college volleyball coaches since September. A senior at Connelly High School, she went through the standard process of letters, telephone calls and campus visits.

Finally, Telford was ready to make her choice. She would be all that she could be at Army.

That was in early January. Two weeks later, the Gulf War began.

“I loved the coach (at West Point), I loved the players and I loved the school,” Telford said. “But when the war started, it was the first time I realized that I would actually be in the military.”

On Saturday, Telford signed a letter of intent to play volleyball at Hofstra. It was a school that was in the running with West Point and one that offered the comfort of civilian life.

Telford sighed when asked about her choice. Sitting in the living room at her parents’ house, wearing a sweat shirt adorned with an American flag, Telford said she does support the troops in the Gulf, but she hadn’t thought of the ramifications of going to West Point.

“If there hadn’t been a war, I probably wouldn’t have given it another thought,” she said. “I knew they wanted a five-year commitment after you graduate, but I finally realized what that meant. I would be in the military.”

Telford also points out that signing with Hofstra isn’t exactly a step down. The school has a good volleyball team and a strong premed program, which fits in with Telford’s plans to be a doctor.

“It’s a very prestigious school and it has a good balance between academics and athletics,” Telford said. “I didn’t want to go to a school that wasn’t strong academically or to one that was so strong in volleyball that it took me away from my studies.”

Telford has made a rapid ascent in the volleyball world. Although she has been playing the sport for only four years, she has learned the game quickly.

For two years she has been on the No. 1 team for the Cal Juniors, a top club team in Southern California.

Telford started playing volleyball as a freshman at Connelly, a parochial school in Anaheim. Her height (6 feet) was a commodity in a student body smaller than 400.

Telford, who plays outside hitter, became so good, in fact, that a teammate talked her into joining a club team.

Telford played one year for Pacific Coast Volleyball Club before moving over to Cal Juniors. After spending one season on the 16-and-under team, she moved up to the 18-and-under team in 1989.

Telford, who is 18, played three years for the Connelly team, helping the Koalas reach the Southern Section playoffs each year. However, as a senior, she decided not to play because of problems with her knees.

Still, college recruiters began calling in September. Among the schools interested were Duke, San Jose State, UC Irvine, Hofstra and Army.

The fact Telford has been on the honor roll every semester at Connelly enhanced her status as a recruit.

“She’s a very intelligent person,” Cal Junior Coach Tim Mennealy said. “I think that’s one of her strengths in volleyball. She’s able to analyze what’s going on during the game and attack weaknesses.”

Hofstra was the first school to contact Telford, but others soon followed.

“I was really surprised at first,” Telford said. “I’d always enjoyed playing volleyball, but I never thought about where it could lead. Then I started getting calls and began to think that maybe this could lead to something.”

What really impressed Telford was a packet she received from West Point in September. She found the brochures interesting, so she filled out the application.

That started a long process--including an appointment nomination by then-Senator Pete Wilson--to gain admission at West Point.

“I have nothing but respect for anyone who gets into West Point,” Telford said. “It’s incredible what you have to go through to get in. First of all, the application is like a book.”

Telford began the application process in November and visited West Point in December.

“She came back and said it was the most beautiful campus she had ever seen,” said Julie Telford, Sarah’s mother.

In January, Telford learned her appointment had come through. But when the war started, she began to have second thoughts.

“It’s not like the war started and I changed my mind and decided not to go to West Point,” Telford said. “But it started me thinking. The whole time I was visiting the school, it never seemed like the Army. They wore uniforms and saluted officers, but other than that, it seemed like a regular college. I imagine a lot of kids think that way.”

It took Telford a week to decide against attending West Point. The Army coach made one last visit to her home, but she told him that Hofstra was her choice.

“I felt really bad about telling him because he had worked so hard to get me accepted,” Telford said. “But he understood. I’m just not an aggressive person. I don’t want to shoot at anybody, even an Iraqi soldier. I would rather talk it out.”