By Nico Bermudez -- STAFF WRITER
One of many freshman standouts on the Hofstra volleyball team, Emma Price, has been a very consistent player for the Pride in the 2017-18 season thus far.
Price attended Pacific Ridge High School in Carlsbad, California. There, she asserted herself as a versatile athlete, playing four years of volleyball along with two years of basketball. As a junior in high school, she put together 260 kills, 52 digs and 31 blocks and earned the Union Tribune Scholar Athlete Award. As a senior, she racked up 263 kills, 122 digs and 23 blocks – this performance allowed her to be named Most Valuable Player of the season and first team all-league.
The freshman has noticed a major increase in her work load transitioning from high school to college. She has also done more than she had anticipated.
“Coming into my freshman year I would say I expected to play a little. I didn’t expect to have this big of a role on the team. It has really exceeded my expectations to be able to have a big impact on this team,” she said.
Price has played in 16 matches for Hofstra so far and has 140 kills, averaging out to 2.75 kills per set. With that, her points-per-set average is totaled at 3.03.
Price has had a few matches where she stood out and created a name for herself here on campus. The second match of the season against Villanova University is where it started; she totaled 13 kills in the match. It was in the following match however, a showdown with Liberty University, in which she truly made noise. Although the Pride lost this match to the Flames, Price led the team in kills with 16.
When Price was asked about how she would look to keep up, and potentially improve upon her stellar start to the year, her answer was simple.
“I would just say keep working hard and committing to volleyball and playing as a team.”
Price is currently in the midst of her hottest stretch of the season, reaching double-digit kills in four of Hofstra’s last six matches. With the Pride standing at 13-8 overall and 5-2 in conference play, Price and the team look to continue forward as they ride a five-game winning streak.
Price and the rest of the team evidently have great chemistry on the court, and she explained how the team manages to maintain it: the players are not just teammates but friends and the chemistry is not just present on the court, but off of it as well.
“We all live together; we’re with each other all the time. We eat meals together and we go shopping together … We like to dance in the locker room and play music from many different countries because we are a very international team,” Price said.
The future is bright for the Pride volleyball team. With an already solid collection of upperclassmen talent on the team, the Pride garnered a couple of freshmen to continue building their outstanding roster. Price is poised to play a major role in this team’s up-coming seasons.