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The Miami University women's volleyball all-time leader board for assists keeps watching a name crawl closer and closer to the top. After amassing 1,123 assists in her freshman year, 1,211 assists in her sophomore year and 1,302 assists in her junior year, senior setter Andrea Atteberry stands fourth on the all-time leader board for assists at Miami. Add those numbers to the assists Atteberry will gain this year, and her name might be moving up the list et again.
The road to a great career began when Atteberry was in elementary school, where she watched her older sister play.
"My older sister played volleyball and it really sparked my interest in the sport from a young age," Atteberry said. "I would go to practice and tournaments with her and shag balls for her team and try to learn what was going on."
Atteberry never left the sport after that, playing in middle school and throughout high school. She chose to come to Miami, where her duties started immediately.
"I came in as a freshman as the only setter on the roster," Atteberry said. "I was challenged very early in my career here at Miami, and learned a lot from it. My greatest achievement up to this point at Miami is that I have grown so much as a player the last four years, and that I was able to learn so much from my early playing time."
Head Coach Carolyn Condit agreed.
"Andrea has done a lot during her time here," Condit said. "She has really evolved since she got here into a great setter. She is athletic, and has great timing on the court. Andrea can see the blockers on the other side of the net very well, while knowing where her hitters are as well."
Atteberry has a chance to move further up the assist leader board this season, but also has a chance to do something that is very rare for her position on the volleyball court.
"Andrea is also one of the first setters here to have a chance at making 1,000 digs for her career," Condit said.
During Atteberry's career at Miami, the team has had two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2006 and 2007, as well as a MAC championship title in 2007. This year's team enters MAC play Friday with a 5-7 overall record. They have reached two preseason tournament championship matches so far this year, and have won four out of their last six matches after starting the year 1-5. Although Atteberry has been on some good teams during her career at Miami, there is something special about this one.
"This team is different because we are all on the same page," Atteberry said. "We have some really good players this year. We always pick each other up in practice and in games, and ultimately we all want to reach the same goal, which is a MAC championship and a berth to the NCAAs."
