As the volleyball flew over the net, freshman Karol Lopez dove after it before it reached the floor leading her team to victory against Leander High School. The freshman volleyball team showcased their incredible skills this season.

Playing volleyball has always been in Lopez’s family. To her, it felt like destiny and something that she should carry on along with her athleticism. 

   “I decided on it when I was practicing it with all of my family, and it just kind of seemed like a lot of fun at first and it was just like, I don’t know it made me really happy when I would get a dig or something,” fLopez said.

Realizing that she wanted to continue playing outside of her family, it led her to currently become a defensive player.

  “I decided to play that recreationally. That moved me up to club, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” Lopez said.

  Lopez has been playing volleyball for seven years which led her to go up against many different types of people. In one of her Dallas tournaments, her team played against a team that was older and more experienced.

      “They had just accidentally had ended up in our bracket. The girls were taller and more intimidating but we ended up beating them. I think it was 28 to 30 so we went way off our third set. It just felt so good just to kind of know that we were on that level to be able to beat someone that was literally above our age group,” Lopez said.

  Lopez plays school volleyball in the fall and winter, and then she goes and plays club in June and July. Along with her year round schedule, volleyball does not always mean that off the court Lopez doesn’t have time for other activities. 

“ I started running track in middle school and I might carry that out into high school. oBeing busy with sports, I really think I have balanced my school work and my extra curricular activities really well,” Lopez said.

 Lopez believes many people have inspired her to play volleyball including the women in her family and professional player, Camilla Gomez. As the youngest person on the Columbian National team and graduating recently from the position of previous wheelbarrow from Texas A&M.

    “She was also only sixteen when she got put on that team and then she had to go to college so she went to Texas A&M and she played for them and she was incredibly good. Just the fact that she is willing to give her entire life and heart and soul to getting this ball that was two inches off the ground has always inspired me to play like that,” Lopez said.

Lopez has been on four different teams. She believes that on each team it is important to build bonds. He favorite memory was in her Houston tournament before everything shut down due to the CoronaVirus.

“We were staying at a hotel together and we all snuck out of our rooms at around nine because our parents were gonna be asleep for our seven am game the next morning. Trying to be considerate, we went to the common area and were messing around the hotel by running and exploring it. We found a fifth floor, that I guess was the restaurant of the hotel and we got stuck up there because the elevator wouldn’t go down so we had to send one of our other team mates to come get us, and though it was chaotic, it was a little scary and one of my favorite experiences with my team,” Lopez said.