Senior Chris Holm is certainly making the most of his final season with the Catamounts, who are steam-rolling towards the America East Conference Tourna-ment.He is Vermont’s enforcer and has made his presence known in the paint all year, dominating opponents on the inside snatching any re-bound that comes his way.Holm has stepped up into a role of leadership on this very young Catamounts squad. He and Martin Klimes are the only seniors this year.”I think that the biggest difference [this year] for me is my confidence, last year I was coming off of an injury, we had a new coach, and it was also after a red shirt year,” the senior said.”This year I knew what my role was going to be and I worked hard all summer trying to get prepared for the season.”Holm has prepared well.He has improved from 8.2 points per game last sea-son to averaging 10 points a game this year. His rebounds have sky-rocketed from an average of 6.5 rebounds last year to 12.2 per game this season.Holm ranks second in the entire nation in rebounding.It is no secret that Holm pointed to rebounding when asked what his biggest im-pact this season was.”The biggest impact that I feel I have added is my rebounding, so far this year I have been very con-sistent with that to where when we go into games the coaches and my teammates can count on me to get that rebound when we need it.”Plus other teams know that when they play against me going into the game that they are going to have to work hard to keep me off the glass,” the center added.He draws attention from the defense which allows for more open looks on the pe-rimeter and better scoring chances for everyone else. Holm feels that the team is built based on the contri-butions of everyone.”Our entire team has added different pieces to the puzzle to help us get where we are this year.”Holm has helped lead the Catamounts to an impres-sive 20-6 record overall, in-cluding an upset over then 14th ranked Boston College.More importantly, a 12-1 in-conference record has UVM in first place headed into the home stretch of the season.Holm has used the off-eason to improve over his career.”I have improved in many different aspects; I have gotten a lot stronger through the years of train-ing and lifting. “I have improved my shooting and knowledge of the game and all that comes as you mature as a person.”Riding an eight-game winning streak and hav-ing won 15 of their last 16 games, Vermont is rolling through America East and into the conference tourna-ment.As the season winds down, Holm is faced with the bittersweet feeling and added pressure going into tournament time that only being a senior can bestow. “It adds a lot of pres-sure just because once we get into tournament time its one and done, and that’s a sad thought because I have loved every minute being a Vermont Catamount and its a sad realization that it is go-ing to be over very soon.”Holm did give his story-book ending to his career.”The perfect ending would be winning the Amer-ica East and going to the NCAA tournament, that has been our goal as a team and if we do not accomplish that nothing else that has hap-pened for us this year is go-ing to be as sweet.”The bar is set high for Holm and the Catamounts down the stretch. If this team has prov-en one thing this year it is that they can handle pres-sure and adversity, dealing with key injuries, and a few heart-breaking losses have prepped the Cats for a se-rious run towards the Big Dance.