CHICO — Paige Coley’s high school volleyball journey is best defined by one word — perseverance.
After transferring to Pleasant Valley from Los Molinos as a sophomore, Coley had her sophomore season wiped out due to the pandemic and her junior season ravaged by teammates’ injuries. Then, in her senior season, she tore her ACL her first home match (the third match of the season).
Despite all the road blocks in her way, the 6-foot-3 middle hitter Coley signed her letter of intent to continue her academic and volleyball at Division I University of North Carolina Asheville.
She is just the second player under PV head coach JJ Mitchell to sign their letter of intent to continue playing indoor volleyball at the next level.
“To be here in this position is a dream, and now the dream is a reality,” Coley said Tuesday night in front of a group of roughly 30 family members, friends, and former teammates and coaches. “I did not get here on my own so I’d like to thank those who helped me get here.
“I’d like to end by saying thank you all for coming today because every single person here today has played a role to getting me where I am today, which is the University of North Carolina Asheville.”
Coley thanked her elementary school teachers who taught her that it is OK to lose, her coaches, her past and current teammates, before giving a lengthy appreciation to all of her family.
“You helped keep head up when I couldn’t and helped me walk when I couldn’t run,” Coley said.
Coley still lives in Los Molinos and commuted the 30+ minutes to Pleasant Valley each day for 6 a.m. practices the last three seasons. When asked about how it felt to receive a full-ride Division I scholarship offer, Coley continued to repeat the word, “surreal.”
“It’s the dream and I’m really excited that I’m going to be able to live the dream. I’m so grateful I’ve received this opportunity given the situation with my knee and I look forward to the next four years,” Coley said. “When I first got the text from Coach (Amber) Haver I really couldn’t believe it. I was hesitant to answer the phone call at first because I didn’t think it would be possible, especially with such an incapacitating injury from volleyball. It was just surreal, and when I answered the phone call and got the offer I really didn’t sink in and it still hasn’t but I’m more than excited.”
Coley missed nearly all of her senior season, but in her junior season she was fifth on the Vikings with 117 kills, tied for the lead in solo blocks and second in total blocks.
Mitchell said he’s proud of the work Coley has put in and credited the recruitment of her reaching the next level entirely to Coley. In three seasons at PV she was never able to have a full season of “normalcy.”
“This is really her and her doing and it’s really unique. I think about Paige I think how she’s put in all the work and so many things outside her control just didn’t give her a chance to enjoy the fun part of it,” Mitchell said. “When I think about it the one word that comes through is perseverance. Those are really tough circumstances, and in today’s generation, I’ve done this for four decades, not many kids come back when things get tough like that. She did an incredible job of continuing to come back. When she told me this opportunity I think its just awesome for Paige because she can finally have a whole and healthy opportunity and it’s going to be fun to see that. It’s at a really good school and I want to say congratulations.”
Coley said she’s most looking forward to simply getting back to playing volleyball. She only got one true full season at PV, so getting back to a full season healthy is exciting. She said her knee is at about 80% right now, but doctors expect it to be fully healthy when she gets to Asheville in July. She said the transition from Los Molinos to PV has helped her prepare for transitioning across the country, but she has always been drawn to the East Coast so is excited.
“Maybe it’s just that growing up I’ve been excited to move out and go to college, exploring, but I think ultimately the coach really was everything I could’ve imagined when she called and explained everything,” Coley said.