Southwest senior led team in kills, aces last season

By Kyle Troutman [email protected]

Southwest volleyball’s leader in kills and aces is taking her talents to Canton, as she has signed a letter of intent top lay volleyball at Culver-Stockton College next fall.

Missy Freeman, who tallied 315 kills and 46 aces in her senior campaign and was selected to the all-Conference and All-District squads, said volleyball is more than just a sport for her.

“I love playing volleyball because it’s what I enjoy and brings me peace,” she said. “Every time I step on that court, everything that is going on in my life just goes away, and the only thing that matters in that moment is volleyball. It takes away my stress and only brings me happiness.”

Freeman said she chose Culver-Stockton because it was a good fit among the schools she was considering.

“I chose the school I did because it was the school I felt I could be myself at,” she said. “The other schools I visited were nice and good schools, but they just didn’t feel right. The environment at this school felt right for me, and the students I’d have there to surround myself with felt right, as well as the staff. I looked at Oklahoma Wesleyan, Cottey College and Randall University.”

Freeman served as team captain last season, and in the classroom, she was a straight-A student and selected to the Academic All-State team three years in a row. She said her greatest accomplishment at Southwest was not rooted in statistics.

“I would say my greatest accomplishment at Southwest is just becoming a better player and teammate,” she said. “I would get more and more kills throughout the years and led my team in kills for three years. I was also able to improve my passing by a lot as well. I got all conference for two years and got all district my last year. I had the best teammates I could ever ask for that pushed me in so many ways.”

Those teammates and time spent together is what Freeman said she will take with her.

“My greatest memory is all of the McDonald’s trips we would take after every away game,” she said. “I created so many memories there with them and always had a good time hanging out with my team there. We even always took a picture in front of the McDonald’s sign.”

Throughout her career, Freeman said multiple coaches and teammates made an impact.

“The people that had the biggest impact on my athletic career would be my club coaches, Kurstine and Chad, my teammates Laura Henry and Olivia Hnem, and Coach Henry,” she said. “They have all pushed me to my full potential. They helped me get extra hours in the gym and helped me work through all of my mistakes. I will forever be grateful for having them.”

One of those lessons learned over the years is how to maintain confidence on the floor.

“My biggest takeaway that I will use for college is to always have confidence and push yourself to do better,” Freeman said. “Volleyball is just as much mental as it is anything else, so confidence is very important. Not being confident only keeps you in your head and drags you down.”

Freeman said to that end, other athletes hoping to play in college should be mindful of their effort.

“Some advice I would give other athletes is to just keep pushing,” she said. “You’re gonna have moments in your career where you feel like you’re not doing good enough or not improving enough, but I promise you are. It is a hard process, but it is all worth it in the end when you finally get to do that signing. You’ll go to college and improve more and more, then those bad games you had in high school won’t matter anymore.”

Culver-Stockton is a private, Christian NAIA school located in Canton. Freeman is the daughter of Matt and Marissa Freeman.