Both Ashlyn Philpot and Laynie Smith grew up with the dream of playing Big Ten volleyball. Neither thought they were ever going to be good enough to reach that level, but it’s called a dream for a reason.
Working hard and playing alongside equally motivated high school players, the club-turned-college teammates both turned that dream into a reality and have thrived in big roles in their freshman seasons at Illinois.
“My mindset has always been, ‘I’m gonna do as much as I can to make sure I can be on the court.’ I just saw it as a challenge,” Smith said. “I was like, ‘I want to start and I want to play, so I need to put in the work to do that.’ I think a lot of it came from club and playing at such a high level with girls who all have the same common goal of playing college and making an impact. It’s always been an expectation in my mind. I just had to be hard on myself and push myself because I wanted to play.”
Growing up in Durham, North Carolina, Smith’s volleyball journey did not begin until she was 12. Initially showing a disinterest due to her self-acknowledged lack of skill, Smith was intimidated by the bigger, better girls she played with and against, and it was not until she reached the high school level that she finally started to enjoy the sport.
Like Smith, Philpot also did not find instant satisfaction in the sport of volleyball. Her involvement began a few years earlier than Smith’s, though, with Philpot picking up the sport at the age of 10 after being inspired to follow in the footsteps of her mom, who competed collegiately at UMKC.
Also admittedly falling short skill-wise, it took some time for Philpot’s love for the sport to truly take off.
“At first, I remember not really liking it because I wasn’t very good,” Philpot said. My mom told me that I could quit once I was good because that’s when it became fun. Then, I became good, and I liked it.”
Philpot – who played for a local club team near her hometown of Greenville, North Carolina – decided to take her interest in the sport to the next level by joining Triangle Volleyball Club, located nearly two hours away. Despite the long commute, she viewed it as an essential step in her quest to, hopefully, play college volleyball.
“I knew that I wanted to play in college, and Triangle was the best opportunity for that,” Philpot said. “I put in the…
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