Anchors Aweigh
JACKSON TWP — Melissa Carter sat on the gym floor and leaned her back against the bleachers.
To Seneca Valley girls volleyball coach Karen Martini, the then-sophomore hitter looked stressed.
“I went over to her and told her she had a big role to fill,” Martini said. “It was almost as if I added to her stress level. But she rose to the challenge, worked really hard and now she’s where she is today.”
Two years later, Carter has signed to attend the United States Naval Academy to continue her education and to play volleyball.
Like Martini, Carter remembers that incident as a sophomore as a watershed moment in her burgeoning volleyball career.
“I was supposed to take over for Abby Trzeciak,” Carter said. “I was taking over for an amazing player, a force, and all I wanted to do was help the team and make a difference.”
Carter, a 6-foot-1 senior, accepted the challenge and turned into a force herself at the net for the Raiders.
“She became a very disciplined player and person,” Martini said. “I think that will weigh big time in her favor at Navy. She’s going right in after high school and she’s the type of kid you can push and push and push and she’ll accept that.”
Carter often pushes herself.
She carries a GPA of over 5.0 and admitted, “I want to be the best at everything.”
Carter picked up volleyball relatively late, beginning in the seventh grade. She got by then on her size and athleticism, but quickly developed.
She played basketball up until her senior year, giving up that sport to focus completely on volleyball.
Navy wasn’t in her plans at first.
But once she came to grips with the five-year post-graduation commitment to the military, she realized it was the place for her.
“One of the first concerns was, ‘Can I do this? Can I actually put in the time?’” Carter said.
She decided she could.
“Academics was a big thing for me,” Carter said. “So was the atmosphere.”
The Naval Academy had them both.
Carter isn’t the first former Seneca Valley volleyball star to take the Navy route. Alex Karika, who played with Carter’s older sister, Emma, opted for the Naval Academy out of high school.
“I think it was probably an influence on me in the beginning,” Carter said. “But it wasn’t a major part of my decision.”
Carter said she had put feelers out to see what other schools were interested and found it was mostly smaller schools.
“I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to play in college,” said Carter, whose major is undecided. “Navy was the only one that recruited me. That definitely felt good that they wanted me so much.”
Carter will report for Induction Day June 30.
She is projected to be a middle hitter at Navy. Karika was a hitter at Seneca Valley but moved to setter.
To make sure she can compete at the net, Carter is working hard on her conditioning and vertical leap.
“Navy wants me to do cardio, but I know I also have to work on my vertical,” Carter said. “It’s tough because jogging long distance makes your vertical jump worse, so I have to find a balance.”
