"Coach's Dream", L'Asia Jackson, Signs With Shaw

L'Asia Jackson capped an outstanding final semester on the volleyball court and in the classroom at Sandhills Community College by signing a national letter-of-intent to compete at the NCAA Division II level for Shaw University in Raleigh next fall.

The occasion was marked by a ceremony held before team and faculty members, family and friends at Heins Gymnasium on Friday afternoon.

The libero for the Lady Flyers will receive her associates degree this month after making straight A's during a fall semester that she contributed to Region 10 regular-season and tournament titles, and a trip to the NJCAA Division III national tournament in Rochester, MN.

Individually, Jackson earned All-Region 10 honors and was named to the VolleyballMag.com NJCAA Division III All-American team. She finished fourth in the nation in Division III in both digs and service receptions.

The daughter of Patrick Ratliff and Melinda Jackson, and Pinecrest High School graduate, plans to enroll at Shaw in January and pursue a degree in exercise science.

"This is the kid that you dream of as a coach," Flyers Head Coach Alicia Riggan says. "You never have to worry about her in the classroom. On the court she's going to do whatever you ask of her. Her teammates look up to her.

"She wants to take extra reps, she wants you to tell her what she's doing wrong and she's just got a great grit about her. She's the first one in the gym and the last one to leave."

Seated at the table on the court with Jackson for the signing were her mother, a sister Aniyah and a friend Darryl McCaster.  Jackson spoke afterward, thanking her coaches and professors for all of the life lessons she learned while attending Sandhills.

Among the other attendees were former coaches Barbara Foxx and Scott Shepherd at Pinecrest, and Sandhills President Dr. John Dempsey and Chief Operating Officer Ron Layne.

Upon her graduation from Pinecrest, Jackson spent a year at UNC-Greensboro, realizing that she missed playing volleyball. Her return to the game, following a two-year hiatus, was a positive development for her and the Lady Flyers.

At Shaw under Head Coach Jonathan Paulk, she will be a part of a winning program that has compiled a record of 48-5 in the CIAA Conference over the past three seasons. She likes the idea of of attending college in a city, and feels after meeting the coaches and players that she will be a good fit for the program.

"I love Sandhills and I'm really going to miss it," Jackson says. "I really feel it helped me find myself. I know with taking two years off, it was hard for me to have confidence so I really feel Sandhills has built me into the person I am right now.

"It feels good to know that I'm going to another winning program because that's something I've been used to."

Following a district tournament match in Pennsylvania in October, an opposing coach told Riggan that she instructed her players to keep the ball away from Jackson.

"With over 600 digs in a season, it doesn't take long for a team to know she's a person you don't want the ball coming to," the coach said. "Asia still hasn't peaked to her full potential."

Inducted into the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2020 after coaching at Pinecrest for 39 years, Foxx describes Jackson as one of the quickest players she ever coached.

"When you think balls are down, she gets them up," Foxx said. "She plays hard, so smart and is always wanting to get better. Now it's L'Asia's time."

C. Bergmann