The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Detering enjoys journey through Happy Valley
Lake Catholic graduate Abby Detering played a pivotal role this fall as Penn State made an NCAA Division I final four charge in volleyball. John Kampf caught up with the former Cougars’ standout.
A giggle escapes the mouth of Abby Detering when she thinks back to her early attempts at mastering the game of volleyball.
“It seems like just yesterday it was fourth grade and I was breaking lights on the outside of the garage trying to learn how to serve overhand,” the product of Lake Catholic said.
Time has flown, Detering admitted with a sigh.
That girl, once a longarmed, long-legged fourthgrader taking out the garage lights, just wrapped up her college volleyball career by earning All-American honors and an appearance in the NCAA Final Four with the Penn State Nittany Lions.
It was quite the fine finish to a volleyball career that included a state championship at Lake Catholic, multiple AllOhio honors in high school and a two-year stint with the Florida Gators before she settled in for her final two years in State College, Pa.
No more lights are being broken, but Detering’s heart is. Because unless she takes a stab at playing professionally overseas, her long and storied volleyball career is over.
“I’m so grateful to end my career on this note,” said Detering from campus before making the drive back home to Mentor for Christmas. “If you would have asked me two years ago, I would have never seen this in my future at all, an All-American and going to a Final Four.
“I have no regrets. It’s been an amazing experience.”
Detering might not have finished all the way on top, but she came awfully close to the top rung of the ladder.
Top-ranked Penn State (332) lost a heartbreaking fiveset match to Big Ten rival Nebraska (25-18, 23-25, 2426, 28-26, 15-11) in a national semifinal in Kansas City, Mo. The Nittany Lions served for match-point in the fourth set but failed to capitalize.
The fifth-ranked Cornhuskers went on to defeat second-ranked Florida, 2522, 25-17, 18-25, 25-16, for the national title.
Had Penn State and Florida won the semifinal matches, Detering would have played against her former teammates from Gainesville, Fla.
“That would have been crazy,” Detering said. “We knew it was a possibility. We played well against Nebraska. But at they end, they got the points they needed. It still hurts thinking about it.”
Detering, who started all 35 of her team’s matches, had a season to remember individually, recording 159 kills, a team-leading 711 assists, a team-leading 34 service aces, a 93 percent serve-reception rate, 224 digs and 79 blocks.
Her performance earned her honorable mention AllAmerican status. Six Nittany Lions earned All-American honors, including firstteamers Simone Lee and Haleigh Washington.
In her first year at Penn State, Detering was a setter in the Nittany Lions’ 5-1 set. Penn State changed to a 6-2 set this season, which allowed Detering to show the full scope of her skill set, much like she did while at Lake Catholic.
“My senior year, we were missing a right-side hitter,” Detering said. “I jokingly said, ‘I was a right-side in high school’ We scrimmaged and they threw me out at right-side and I hit well, so we stuck with it.
“I tell you, playing rightside in the Big Ten is a lot different than playing rightside in high school. You don’t normally see a 6-2 in college, especially when the setter is hitter.”
The move was brought out a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde persona of sorts.
“My personality as a setter is more composed than my personality as a hitter,” she said. “I’m more crazy when I go up to hit. You have to be more composed as a hitter.”
The massive changes in her life did not go unnoticed to Detering. She started as a 6-foot-setter playing in the Southeastern Conference to a multifaceted setter/hitter in a 6-2 scheme in the Big Ten.
She played in seven matches as a freshman, then 29 as a sophomore, but then headed back north.
Leaving Florida after her sophomore year wasn’t what she expected. But she said the experience at Penn State was worth the move.
“I committed my sophomore year,” she said. “It just wasn’t a good fit for me. I have nothing negative at all to say about Florida. You just don’t realize until you get someplace if you fit somewhere.
“Girls are committing younger and younger these days. You don’t know exactly what you want until you experience it. But I learned so much from that (Florida) program. Those girls there are still among my best friends.”
Detering graduates with a degree in communications/arts and sciences. Her long-term goal is to go into marketing.
Just what constitutes “long-term” remains up in the air, because Detering is entertaining thoughts of playing professional volleyball overseas.
She said Olympic volleyball is not in the cards — “I think once you get to a certain point, you know your level of play,” she said with a laugh — but the opportunity to play professionally for a while intrigues her.
“I would do it if the opportunity came about,” she said. “If not, it’s time to get a job and say, ‘I had a great run. It’s time to get a big girl job.’ ”
It’s not difficult for the daughter of Paula and Mike Detering — the girl Lake Catholic coach Rich Severino described in 2013 as “the finest player I’ve ever coached,” — to count her blessings.
She and her teammates won a state championship at Lake Catholic, she went on to be the 2013 Gatorade Ohio Player of the Year, she played two years at a highprofile program in Florida, then finished up as an AllAmerican for a final four team at Penn State with a degree in the field she loves.
“I was at my sister’s in Philadelphia for a cute little graduation thing, and that’s when it hit me,” she said. “It’s all over now. It’s all flown by, like ‘Wow. I’m kind of retired now.’”