The 2018 Catoosa-walker County Volleyball Dream Team

Over the past two seasons, LFO’S Macey Gregg has racked up over 600 total kills, served up more than 150 aces, blocked over 130 shots, had over 250 digs and recorded more than 120 assists.

Not too shabby for a future college basketball player that only began playing volleyball as a freshman on the junior varsity team.

However, from those humble beginnings on the court, the LFO senior put in the work, honed her game and will leave LFO as one of the top all-around volleyball players in school history.

“I’ve had several great all-around players over the years and she’s right up there with the best of them,” said longtime Lady Warriors’ volleyball coach Diane Norwood. “She has really proven a lot to me. She was only a JV player until her sophomore year. I wasn’t expecting her to be a volleyball player because I knew how much she loved basketball, but she really became one.”

The 2018 Catoosa County Volleyball Player of the Year got her team back to the Class AAA state tournament once again in what could have been considered a rebuilding year for the Red-and-white.

“I just knew we were pretty inexperienced and that I was going to have to step it up,” Gregg explained. “I knew I was going to have to play as hard as I could and do the most that I could because we only had about four returning varsity players coming back. I just did what I had to do.”

After a junior season that saw the multisport athlete record 258 kills, 72 aces, 78 blocks, 93 digs and 80 assists, Gregg kicked it up another notch in her final season.

She led Catoosa County with 358 kills, while her 92 aces and 63 blocks were both second-best in the county. She also helped out with 166 digs and 44 total assists.

“Like she said, we lost a lot of players (from last year),” Norwood added. “Macey really stepped it up. She can hit, she can set and she can dig. She helped us out in all those areas and that’s what we needed this year.”

Gregg said she was motivated to continue LFO’S state playoff streak.

“The last five years, this program has been to the state playoffs,” she said. “It was going to be kind of embarrassing if I didn’t help get us to six.”

The volleyball honor also adds to the impressive athletic resume she has compiled in the past several months.

“To go from last year, getting (Catoosa County) Co-player of the Year in basketball and (Catoosa County Girls’) Athlete of the Year and now to get (Catoosa County Player of the Year) for volleyball, it’s really just an honor because volleyball’s not my sport, you know?,” she asked. “It’s really exciting.”

Now that her volleyball career is in the books, Gregg is currently focused on basketball. She is an All-state player that is headed to the University of North Georgia to continue her hoops career, but said she will miss her time on the other court.

“I’ll definitely miss my teammates, but most of all, I’ll miss volleyball because it was fun,” she continued. “It requires so much from you and it’s so much different from other sports. You have to be able to do everything. You can’t be good at just one thing. It’s a sport that requires athleticism and skill.”

And Norwood added that the volleyball program at LFO would definitely miss their senior standout.

“She’s meant a lot to this program, especially this year,” the coach added. “It’s not even her sport, but she’s just so athletic and she puts forth the effort because she wants to be good.”