Alex Smith
photo by Dennis Norwood/File Photo
Alex Smith just finished her junior year at Grace Academy where she was the best player on the Lady Golden Eagle volleyball team.
The season didn’t go quite as well as they would have liked as Smith suffered an ankle injury and was sidelined much of the season and never got back to 100 percent healthy before tournament time.
However, all the news is not bad as Smith joined 10 other players who formed a team called Volley One Academy and they traveled to Orlando last week for the 43rd annual AAU National volleyball tournament.
This team, including players from Chattanooga, Savannah, Columbus and Kennesaw, Georgia only practiced together five times and played in one tournament before their trip to Florida.
Smith’s team was ranked only 57th out of 127 teams in their division, but they ended up winning the tournament and Smith was selected as one of 13 All-Americans for her outstanding play.
They beat a team from Chicago called Michio and they won in straight sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-22.
They also faced teams from Illinois, North Dakota, Utah, Minnesota and Puerto Rico among others.
Smith has already committed to play volleyball at Middle Tennessee State University and teammate Noa Miller has signed to play at Wofford. As a result of their success, six others have since received scholarship offers to play at the next level.
Smith’s team played 14 matches in four days and won all but one. However, they came back to get even as they beat Northern Lights in bracket play.
This tournament had over 27,000 participants.