Samantha Sharp '26 Recruiting Profile

In the last 2 years, volleyball has gone from 1 in 4 to my #1. I was a very multidimensional athlete growing up, participating in volleyball, basketball, softball, and swimming. However, volleyball was the only sport to which I did not play for a travel or club team prior to 2022 – it was the sport that bridged a busy summer going to swim trainings in the morning and travel softball practices in the evening (plus tournaments and meets on the weekends) with a winter chock full of competitive basketball games.

This all started to change the summer between my seventh and eighth grade years. I had always been able to use my sheer athleticism to make an impact on the volleyball court. However, my interests and passions started shifting – instead of going to the park to shoot basketball or swim, I found myself trying to convince my brother to let me go to the park with him and his friends to play sand volleyball. I started realizing that I wanted volleyball to play a bigger part of my life.

In November of 2021, after my eighth-grade season, I tried out for a club volleyball team so I could continue this growth. Despite only playing recreational and middle school volleyball, I made a national team.  I quickly found that the speed of the game and the competition fueled my passion even more to make volleyball my focus sport. In just 2 years of playing club volleyball, I am proud of the accomplishments and growth I have achieved to-date, and happy to report that I have contributed to each team making USAV nationals.

This multidimensionality and dedication are not limited to my athletic endeavors. In the classroom, I am taking a well-balanced mix of college preparatory and honors classes, using my current sophomore year and upcoming junior year to explore a variety of subjects that might help me determine the program to pursue. Through the first semester of my sophomore year, I have achieved a 3.791 unweighted GPA and am on pace to graduate with an Academic Honors and/or Arts Honors Diploma. Outside of volleyball and school, I also teach swimming lessons at Buckeye Swim School in Powell, Ohio. In my spare time, I enjoy  strumming on my guitar, belting out a karaoke duet with my dad, and telling stories through photography – my work was recently selected to represent my high school at an art show at Ohio Wesleyan University highlighting promising young artists.

Although I am still new to the pursuit of playing volleyball competitively at the collegiate level, I am committed to doing everything in my power to accelerate my growth. I am excited about sharing my skills and personality with you as I grow in the coming years, and I look forward to starting conversations with you.

Thanks for your time!