Abby Wallace Achieves All-American Recognition

According to Sandhills Community College volleyball coach Alicia Riggan, Abby Wallace "did it all".

Last week the NJCAA Division III Volleyball Committee made the Lady Flyer setter, and Region X Player of the Year, an honorable mention All-American selection. Paige Garner (2017) and Miranda Love (2010) are the only other players in the 11-year history of the volleyball program to achieve All-American recognition.

One of three team captains, the Pinecrest High School graduate helped lead the Flyers to a 24-5 record this past season, a two-year mark of 51-11 and two Region X conference and regular-season tournament titles.

"I think the members of the committee could see that Abby doesn't just set, but also leads in other areas," Riggan said in between halves of a Flyers' basketball game on Saturday. "She had that quick dump for a point, that good serve and no ball was going to hit the floor that she could get a hand on.

"I think between her and Shaedyn (libero, Housh), I've never coached two players that hit the floor as much as they did and popped right back up. She's just athletic. She just does it all."

Wallace was third in the nation in assists per set this season (9.89) and ninth in total assists with a team record 949. She also led the team in service aces (55) and was second in digs (268). She fashioned 14 double-doubles (double figures in both assists and digs). She was also credited with 80 kills.

She leaves the program with the career record in assists (1,707) and service aces (139).

As a two-time all-conference player at Pinecrest, Wallace was primarily a defensive specialist.

"That definitely helped me with my defense here because I didn't really set until my senior year and returned to libero at the end of the season," she said.

The All-American honor was not something she was expecting.

"Coach (Riggan) texted me," she recalled. "I looked at the list and just about everybody was 5-9 and I'm 5-4."  

An education major, the daughter of Donnie and LeAnn Wallace is hoping to continue playing volleyball at a four-year college.

In a match against Louisburg as a Flyer freshman, Wallace was credited 45 assists and 26 digs. In October she totaled 49 assists and 17 digs at home against Pitt.

"Defense is not always a strength of a setter," Riggan says. "What I've been telling coaches is that she's a setter, but she can also be a defensive specialist or a libero for you."

C.Bergmann