North Rock Creek senior Abigail Smith has been a part of the NRC volleyball program since its move to the varsity level three years ago. As she enters her senior year, she is determined to leave this program in the best shape as possible.
“I’m trying to lean in with the freshmen and underclassmen and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know them,” she says. “I’m not necessarily trying to be the number one leader on the team but I’m trying to get them to lead with me.”
Smith was a sophomore when North Rock Creek played their first varsity season and the Cougars have only seen success making it to state the past two years. This year, though, Abigail just doesn’t want her Cougars to make it to state, she wants to win.
“We want to get past the first round because we haven’t done that before,” she says. “Our sophomore no one expected it, so it was great when we got to state. Last year, we felt a little pressure to do it again. This year, there are about 10 really good teams in 4A but only eight make it to state. So, it’s going to be tougher and there’s a lot of pressure that goes into that.”
One reason Smith believes North Rock Creek has seen a lot of early success in their program’s history, is the chemistry that’s been there from Day one.
“The I played on when I started playing at eight, I still play with,” she says. “There’s a chemistry we have that a lot of teams don’t have. We were also the underdogs early on which made us play with a little more passion those first couple of years.”
Beyond the success on the court, it’s more important for Smith and her teammates to build a good reputation.
“We don’t want to be a negative team,” she says. “We want to be the team that people look at like ‘those are good girls, coming from a good school, with good attitudes.”
Outside of volleyball, Smith is a golfer at NRC and is also a part of FCA, student council, NHS, and gifted and talented. She recently signed to play college volleyball at Kansas Wesleyan University. She plans on studying biochemistry with the hopes becoming a physician’s assistant.
