Carter looking to shine at Judson College

Volleyball has been a big part of Emma Carter’s life for the past few years and it will continue to be a big part of her life once she graduates from Ridgeland High School this spring.

Carter signed both academic and athletic scholarship papers this past Friday to join the volleyball program at Judson College.

“(Signing day) means a lot to me because I’ve waited for this for a long time,” Carter explained. “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs, but I’ve also had a lot of coaches and other peo- ple who have helped me through it. This means so much to me because this is what I wanted for my volleyball career.”

Carter said one of the reasons she chose Judson - a private women’sonly college in Marion, Ala. - was due to its small size.

“There’s only about 250 or 300 people there and it’s a really tiny community, which I like,” she added. “As soon as I walked into the school for tryouts, all the girls started talking to me. There weren’t any cliques. It was just a family.”

Judson head coach Cynthia White, one of many that attended the signing ceremony at Ridgeland, said she was impressed with Carter’s work ethic and attitude.

“It was just a joy to watch because those are things you can’t teach,” White said. “She’ll be able to adjust to our program because she has a good work ethic and because she has a good attitude and that’s all been confirmed just by talking to people that know her much better than I do. I’m excited for her to join her team next season.”

Carter had 469 assists for the Lady Panthers this past fall to go with 100 digs and 49 aces.

In addition to her playing, Carter has helped out with the Rossville Middle School volleyball team for the past two seasons and she has also organized and hosted benefit Dig Pink volleyball tournaments through the national Side-Out Foundation to help raise money for Stage IV metastatic breast cancer awareness.

Those tournaments raised well over $3,000 and helped Carter become one of just three student-

athletes nationwide to earn a 2018 Side-Out/AVCA National Dig Pink Award. The award, which was presented to her in Minneapolis, Minn. at the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s All-America/Players of the Year Banquet in mid-December, also earned her an additional $3,500 college scholarship.

“She’s an amazing individual and such a good kid,” Ridgeland head coach April Lemonds said. “She’s got great leadership in addition to all the things she does behind the scenes that nobody knows about. She’s just an outstanding kid with such a positive attitude.

“Not only is she a good leader, but she’s a good player. She ran our offense and was always hustling and going after the ball. She knew what she had to do and she was always giving 100 percent. You never had to worry about Emma not doing what she was supposed to be doing for the team.”

Carter said she hoped to be a leader for her new team next season.

“I’m going to try to bring more leadership and give them more of my personality,” she added. “I just want to help them with different aspects of the team.”

Carter said she plans to go into social work after college.