Abbie Trzeciak

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Fifteen months ago, Abbie Trzeciak’s athletic future was in doubt.

Her athletic present is flourishing.

The Seneca Valley graduate and Providence College freshman volleyball player is starting as a right-side hitter for the Friars and is fourth on the team with 49 kills.

“I’m surprised I’m on the court at all. I’m surprised I’m even here,” Trzeciak said.

On May 21, 2012, while preparing to throw the javelin after qualifying for the state meet, Trzeciak tore her ACL.

The Raiders’ three-sport standout had her eyes set on earning 12 varsity letters in high school.

She also envisioned a collegiate career in either volleyball, basketball, track and field, or any combination thereof.

“I didn’t want any of that to go away,” Trzeciak said. “I went to Revolution (physical therapy business in Cranberry) for my rehab and told them I wanted to be able to compete during my senior year in high school.

“(Butler graduate) Lyneil Mitchell set me up with an intense program, I stayed with it and was cleared to play volleyball Oct. 3.”

That was only 15 weeks after her surgery.

Trzeciak went on to play in every Seneca Valley basketball game her senior year and competed in every track meet, earning those 12 letters.

“I’ve never seen anybody come back that fast,” Providence volleyball coach Margot Royer Johnson said. “We were recruiting her at the time and, yeah, I was concerned. My fear was it was too soon and she would suffer a setback.

“It never happened. In fact, if it wasn’t for that tiny scar on her knee, I wouldn’t know she ever had surgery from watching her play. Abbie is at 100 percent.”

Johnson admitted Trzeciak’s lateral movement can still improve and likely will with time. But she is no longer fearful of the knee giving out.

“Abbie’s strength and agility is already pretty good and it’s going to get better,” the coach said. “I eventually see her playing in the middle for us, but the right side is good for now as she adapts to the speed of Division I volleyball.”

Trzeciak is one of three freshmen on the Providence roster and the only one who is a consistent starter.

She had 15 kills in a 3-1 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson in the Friar Classic, Providence’s first win of the season. Trzeciak was named to the all-tournament team for her efforts.

Providence is 2-9 on the season and is in its second year in the new Big East conference. “The old Big East decided to place a minimum scholarship total on all sports at all member schools and Providence couldn’t fund all sports at that level,” Johnson said. “Volleyball was one of the sports that lost its scholarships and fell by the wayside as a result. We had to fund ourselves for a while.

“We only got our scholarships back recently and Abbie is a part of one of those first scholarship classes to join us. Our future is very exciting here now.”

Athletes at the college are permitted to play more than one sport, but Trzeciak doesn’t see herself doing that.

“I’ve reached my goal of playing one of the sports I love at the Division I level,” she said. “I’m here for academics, too, and playing one sport is hard enough to handle at this level, let alone two.”