A player on the volleyball team has recorded 168 kills this season. But if you see her in a few years from now it might be on a court you wouldn’t expect.
Brahma’s outside hitter Shari Volpis may lead the team in kills and points, but her career aspirations go way beyond a volleyball court and into a court of law. She wants to be a judge.
“If she can hit the weight room a little bit in the summer and improve her jump, she has the potential to be an All-American,” head coach Nabil Mardini said. “She has the size as an athlete and she has a good arm. The sky’s the limit for her.”
Volpis was born into a family of athletes. Her father played professional basketball in Italy and her mother played tennis her whole life. From a young age Volpis found a desire to play sports.
She started playing volleyball during her sophomore year at Pacifica Christian High School in Santa Monica, Calif. She also played basketball for her four years there. It was a relatively small school with an enrollment of 239 students.
Volpis and her older sister, Shanon Volpis have shared a room their whole life and Shanon Volpis says that has made them closer than most sisters.
“We have shared a room together our whole life and that is why we are super close,” Shanon Volpis said. “She knows everything about me and I know everything about her. She’s like my twin.”
“If you ask other people they will say we are not similar but we are extremely similar,” Shanon Volpis continued. “I am a little more quiet and she says things straight off the bat but mainly I just know when to be quiet.”
Shari Volpis says that both of them are competitive when it comes to volleyball but not with each other. The sibling rivalry has never been there for them.
“We feel like my success is her success and vice versa,” Volpis said.
Volpis played for club at the Los Angeles Volleyball Academy (LAVA) where Mardini is the girl’s club director. After meeting Mardini and seeing his knowledge of volleyball she decided to come to Pierce College to play on the volleyball team for him.
“People always ask me why I drive so far to school,” Volpis said. “They ask why I don’t just go to Santa Monica College. I just tell them, Nabil.”
She is an English major with her goals set high to become a judge one day.
“My whole life I have always been very opinionated and not afraid to stand up for myself or other people and I am not a biased person,” Volpis said. “I have always loved watching judge shows. I even enjoy going to traffic court with my mom. I would just sit and watch the cases.”
Putting her all into something is very important to her and says at this moment her focus is on volleyball. When her time at Pierce is done she will then shift her focus on to her journey of becoming a judge.
Pierce women’s volleyball has a 20-1 record right now and a 5-1 record within its conference. Volpis hopes that her team can get better at finishing games and says her team starts to slow down and give sets away that they should not be losing.
On Friday, Oct. 30, the team will play the Santa Barbara City College Vaqueros. The Vaqueros are the only team that the Brahmas have lost to and Volpis is looking forward to the rematch.
“We are going for blood here,” Volpis said. “I think we are going to cream them. Everyone is really pissed off still and I think they should be scared.”
