Azaria Sweet is Boone County’s most decorated volleyball player in recent history, breaking the record for most career digs with 2,044 digs.
She began her volleyball career in sixth grade. Sweet decided to tryout on a whim after attending open gym with her sister at their middle school.
Since then, she has been playing volleyball.
“I enjoy every aspect of volleyball. The good moments like making a great dig, save, or kill that gets the entire team hyped, and even the challenges that push me to grow,” Sweet said. “Every time I step on the court, I feel an adrenaline rush that inspires me to give my best and be the loudest and most supportive player I can be.”
Sweet has experienced difficulties during her career, but she continues to give “100% effort no matter what” and stays focused on her own performance and growth.
Up until this year, Sweet has been the team’s libero—a position where she maintains a strictly defensive role in the back line of the court—however, this season, she has played as an outside hitter, covering all six rotations.
This change in rotation has allowed Sweet to exponentially increase her kill count, hitting 237 kills this season.
When she was a libero and could not rotate to the front line, she scored 134 kills for the rest of her entire career.
This position change has also decreased the number of digs she makes, averaging about 5 digs a game to her previous 6-7 average.
While playing on the varsity volleyball team, Sweet is also a part of Boone’s nursing co-op, an out-of-school program with advanced health classes geared towards future nurses and health professionals.
“It requires strong time management and dedication to stay on top of both,” Sweet said.
Sweet will continue her volleyball career at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, as the team’s libero.
