BUFFALO TWP — Ashley Sample is a stickler for details.

When she decides what to eat for a snack, she pores over the nutritional facts on the other side of the box.

“I'm pretty much a health freak,” Sample says, laughing. “I look at the calories and all those things. I think it's interesting, how foods work and how they make a human react.”

Sample, a junior outside hitter on the Freeport High volleyball team, is a stickler for details on the court, as well.

She's always scanning the opponent on the other side of of the net.

Both tendencies have served her well. Sample has developed into one of the most feared hitters in the WPIAL.

Only a Rambo movie has more kills than Sample this season.

“It's not easy,” Sample said. “It takes a lot of practice, a lot of work.

“The key is probably the setters and passing,” Sample added. “You can't get a kill without a good set and you can't get a good set without a good pass. So, it's the entire team, not just one person.”

But Sample has been a one-woman wrecking crew this season for the Yellowjackets (8-0), who once again are cruising through the regular season with an undefeated record.

Sample is averaging 13 kills per match this season, and many of those matches are lasting only three games because of Freeport's dominance.

She's also been deadly with her service game, on defense with her blocking and even has gone down to the floor to record a few digs.

All this from a player who didn't make her first spike on the volleyball court until the seventh grade.

Freeport coach Tom Phillips, though, knew right away that Sample was going to be special.

“Fundamentally, Ashley had lots of things to work on, but she has progressed every year,” Phillips said. “She's worked hard on her entire game. Ashley is such a wonderful girl, a wonderful student and just a really good athlete. She's really taken to volleyball.”

Sample is tall, but not freakishly so. She's a hard hitter, but not freakishly so.

Her leaping ability and penchant for putting the ball down in just the right spot are freakish, however.

“We were playing out in the sand last summer and we have ball-stop nets around the court,” Phillips said. “They are 36 inches high. Somebody hit a ball out of bounds and they were going to get the ball and Ashley was just in a dead standstill at this ball-stop net and with just one leap, jumped over it — 36 inches. Everyone was like, ‘Wow! Ashley!'”

Sample, who also is a stellar softball player, prides herself on being in the right place at the right time — and in being able to hit the ball to the right place at the right time.

“I don't hit the ball hard at all,” Sample said. “I just place it well. When you do make that perfect hit, it's like ‘Oh, wow.' When you see it hit the floor, you just get this cool sense of accomplishment.”

Sample's mental game has also evolved over the years.

As a freshman, she was shy and reserved. Now as a junior, she has become more vocal and more of a leader.

Sample credits her older mentors who have graduated from the program, players like Ashley Massart, Madison Rotto and Carlie Bieranowski for showing her what it means to be a Freeport volleyball player.

It usually means not losing.

Freeport hasn't lost a regular season volleyball match since 2005.

“It's awesome,” Sample said. “It really is. We make each other better.”

In fact, Sample doesn't consider herself the best hitter on her own team, even though her numbers say she is dominating.

“I don't feel like I'm dominating,” Sample said. “I get most of the sets, so that's probably why I get the number of kills that I do. There are hitters on this team who are just as good as me.”

Sample plans on attending college to becoming a dietitian — reading all those nutritional facts has inspired her.

She also plans on playing volleyball at the next level, not softball.

“I think it would be easier to play volleyball in college rather than softball because,” Sample pauses before a grin crosses her lips, “softball is ... outdoors ... in the spring. It's cold.”