Chesterton senior Abigail Parrish remembers the first time she played setter.
Parrish knew she had found her home on the volleyball court.
“It was like, ‘Oh, I’m kind of good at this, and I think I can run with it,’” she said. “I liked that leadership aspect of it because when you’re setting, you have to be a leader, no matter what. You’re the one running the offense.”
Parrish has been running the offense for the Trojans since her sophomore season but has been a fixture in the lineup since she arrived on campus. The 6-foot Wayne State commit led Chesterton (12-3, 3-1) in assists in each of the past two seasons, racking up 773 as a sophomore and 448 as a junior. She has already added 186 this season.
With a career total of 1,578, Parrish is within striking distance of the team record of 1,797 held by 2012 Chesterton graduate Kate Nowak, who later played at St. Ambrose.
But Chesterton coach Lindsay Nibert said Parrish is a leader of more than just the offense.
“She wouldn’t have been a two-year captain if we didn’t see that in her,” Nibert said. “You watch her on the court, and you can see that she’s someone who pours her heart into the sport.”
Parrish is versatile too. Setter Reese Dilbeck’s arrival last season freed up Parrish to play on the right side at times in a 6-2 rotation. The front row already included senior outside hitter Tenley Davis, a Loyola commit with a team-high 180 kills this season, and junior outside hitter Luca Bombacino, a Michigan commit with 170 kills.
Parrish, who has 35 kills this season, said she embraced the idea, indicative of her team-first approach.
“I didn’t see it as her taking playing time away from me,” Parrish said of Dilbeck. “I saw it as her coming in to relieve some of that pressure on me. Now I get to work with this girl and share the court with her. That’s amazing for me.”
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When Parrish is at the net, she relies on the same cerebral approach she uses when she’s setting, often scoring points with guile.
“If I can’t put a ball down because there’s too big of a block in front of me, I know that I still need to figure out a way,” she said. “My setter trusted me enough to set the ball to me, so I have to keep it in play or tip it down somewhere.”
As a setter, Parrish said having teammates like Davis and Bombacino prepares her for Wayne State, a Division II team in Detroit.
“It’s made me better,” Parrish said. “They run that really fast tempo that I’m going to be running in college, and it’s really refreshing to know that I can always lean on them.”
Senior libero Ryleigh Connor knows Parrish has her teammates’ backs too.
“She shows up for everything, and she’s always showing up for everyone else too,” Connor said. “She notices all of the little things that everyone does. Whether you get a big kill or a great set or a great dig, she’s the first one there to tell you that you did a great job.”
Parrish hopes she has many more opportunities to congratulate her teammates. Chesterton lost to Penn in a Class 4A regional championship match last season despite winning the first two sets, and the sting of that defeat pushes Parrish and her teammates.
“We’re all striving for the same thing,” she said. “We want to go far in the postseason this year. That’s something we’ve talked about since the summer, that we’ve been wanting this for so long. So we’re putting in all our effort and showing up to everything so that we can leave our all out on the court.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter.