GROVE CITY — For Allison Cummings, Grove City College was a whole different world.

The 2003 Seneca Valley HighSchool graduate had to juggle books in the classroom with blocks on the volleyball court during practice.

The 5-foot-10 outside/middle hitter also had to adjust to sitting, watching and learning as a freshman.

"It was just a whole different perspective," Cummings said. "It was a humbling experience, too."

Three-plus years later,Cummings is a senior and a leader on the Wolverines volleyball team.

When she thinks back to her first few days as a freshman, she can hardly recognize herself.

Neither can her coach.

"Those seniors, when they were freshmen, they were a sight," said Grove City volleyball coach Susan Roberts.

"They played randomly. They sat on the bench most of their whole freshman year. I think they had more fun than they were willing to admit.

"(Allison) has improved 100 percent," Roberts added.

Cummings played one game as a freshman and had one block on her stat sheet.

Things have certainly picked up for the former Seneca Valley star, who started for three straight years in high school through some tumultuous times.

Cummings endured four coaching changes when she was with the Raiders, including one brought on by scandal in the middle of the season during her senior year.

In that season, the coach was dismissed for having sexually explicit conversations with an underage girl in another school district.

"It was bad, because reporters were outside and they told us, 'You can't talk to them,'" Cummings said. "It was hard because it was in the middle of the season and we were doing well, then we had a new coach and she adjusted things."

Now that is all a distant memory for Cummings.

Grove CityCollege has been a completely different experience. Stability has been one of the strong suits in the program, and a welcome change for Cummings.

Roberts has coached the team for 22 seasons. The team didn't lose a player off the roster from last season, when the Wolverines went 15-15 and set the stage for their resurgence in 2006.

"It's been awesome. It's been great," Cummings said. "Last year we did well, but not as well as we would have liked to. And this year totally surpassed all those expectations."

Grove City, which has won nine conference titles — the last coming in 2001 — fell to Washington & Jefferson College, 3-2, Friday in the semifinals of the Presidents' Athletic Conference tournament.

Cummings, who had 104 kills and 24 blocks in 2006, is surprised by how fast her time at Grove City College flew by..

"It's a shock, actually, that I've been here for almost four years," she said. "I don't really feel like it should be over. It's just so hard to believe."