ADAMS TWP — Beth Long looked at the stat sheet and did some quick math in her head.

And Long is quite good at math — about the only thing the Mars senior is more passionate about than volleyball is physics.

The outside hitter for the Planets figured she didn't have much of a chance to reach the school's career digs record, especially not with the schedule shortened because of the coronavirus pandemic.

So Long went out this season just grateful there was volleyball to be played.

When she saw the stat sheet at the end of the year, she was delighted.

Long had reached the school record for digs after all with 534.

“I actually had no idea I got it,” Long said. “I didn't think it was going to be possible to reach it. That definitely made it a little more, 'Wow, I actually did that.' It made it more of a moment for me. I was pretty proud.”

Long was an outside hitter by trade; she was a middle hitter before that — positions that don't usually generate digs by the dozens.

Long got them anyway.

“I think it was more a mind-set,” Long said. “I always knew I wanted them. Even though I played middle, I was always given the opportunity to get reps in digging. I think that helped a lot.”

Getting the digs record wasn't the only major accomplishment for Long this season.

Monday, Long was named to the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association all-state team in Class 3A.

“With COVID-19, I really wasn't expecting to have a season at all this year,” Long said. “I was grateful to just have a season, so to be able to reach milestones like that just made me really proud.

“They both meant a lot to me,” Long added, “especially because volleyball is something I've been working at since I was 12 years old.”

It was then that Long decided to set aside basketball and soccer to focus completely on volleyball.

While she enjoyed those two sports, they didn't have the draw that volleyball did.

“The theory behind the game and the strategy just kind of clicked in a way the other sports didn't, and I just loved how team-focused volleyball was,” Long said. “I decided I wanted to play at a really high level and that involved a large time commitment, so I decided to pick one and be as good as I could be at that.”

Long was a steady force for the Planets for four years.

“Beth played in every set of her high school career,” said Mars volleyball coach Tami Caraway. “She was less than 15 kills away from a career kills record at Mars and less than 20 from a single-season record in kills. The COVID schedule reduced our number of matches to 13 this year.”

Mars and Long did a lot with those 13 matches.

The Planets shared the section title with a 9-3 record, all while playing under the shroud of a pandemic.

“We took everything one day at a time,” Long said. “We still conditioned like it was any other season and I think that helped. I was really happy with my teammates and how well we were able to come together in the face of a pandemic and still work and function as a team, even though there was so much going on, so much chaos. It made me really proud to be a member of the team.”

Long, though, decided her volleyball days are over; she won't play in college.

It didn't mesh with her career goal, which is to be an aerospace engineer.

Long will miss volleyball. She misses it already.

Caraway will miss her, too.

“She's a great player and a great teammate,” Caraway said. “I'm really grateful she was part of our program for the last four years.”