In her first spring with the Wahoos, the 6-foot Duprey split time at outside hitter and right side.
βSheβs got these aspirations of being an outside in professional volleyball,β Wells said, βso spring is a time that we work really hard to try to make sure that weβre not only training our athletes to help us in the long run but also [to support] their future goals. We can experiment a little bit. All of our pins train as outsides and right sides and they pass as well. And so this spring I think she was most successful on the right side, but she did some really nice stuff for us on the outside as well. So I think weβre all going into this the fall thinking the same thing. We have a really deep group of pins, and weβve just got to figure out what each of their strengths are. For an outside youβve got to have the ability to pass and thatβs going to be the separator for that whole group, but thereβs no doubt that you can score points with [Dupreyβs] arm and sheβs going to find herself on the floor.β
Duprey, who graduated from Flint Hill School in Oakton, isnβt the first member of her family to excel as an athlete. Her father, Michael, played football at Purdue, and her mother, the former Kathy Wilson, starred in basketball at North Carolina.
Given her momβs background in hoops, how did Duprey end up focusing on volleyball?
βI started off playing basketball at first,β Duprey said. βTwo of my friends that Iβd met playing basketball were playing volleyball, so I wanted to try it.β
She played club volleyball and basketball as a freshman in high school, both in the same season, but her grades ended up slipping. βSo my mom was like, βListen, weβve already made the commitment to volleyball. We have paid all this money for your volleyball. Youβre going to have to give up basketball,β β Duprey said. βAnd I have not gone back to the sport since.β
En route to the European Global Challenge last month, Duprey and her teammates visited Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia before arriving in Croatia. Duprey left UVA three days before the end of the second session of summer school, and she brought some schoolwork with her on the trip.
In Slovenia, Duprey took (and passed) the final exam for her Gender, Sport and Film summer course.
βShannon was worried about me taking my final overseas, but we created a plan,β Duprey said. Working with Mackenzie Nunes, the volleyball teamβs academic adviser, βwe got it…