Volleyball’s Olivia Snipes, a true student-athlete

By Jeffrey Howard | gargoyle@flagler.edu
Photo by Dyann Busse

Olivia Snipes, a senior setter for the Flagler College women’s volleyball team, said she doesn’t like to be the center of attention. Even if Snipes doesn’t want the spotlight on her, she has earned it from every student and faculty member at Flagler with her honors on and off the volleyball court.

Snipes is an Elementary Education major and is minoring in history. She is a member of Kappa Delta Pi, which is the education honors society. She is also a member of Omicron Delta Kappa and Alpha Chi, which are both national honors societies. She is president of the student athlete advisory committee, which is essentially the voice of the student athletes to help with things such as college administration. She is currently holding a 3.77 grade point average.

For the third year in a row she has earned Academic All-Peach Belt Conference honors.

Along with the vast amount of accolades Snipes has earned, she said she still makes time for volunteering every spring and summer. Snipes works with Habitat for Humanity, as well as at the St. Johns County Pet Center on U.S. 1 and the Christian Service Center.

Ever since Snipes came to Flagler from South Carolina, she has been a starting setter for the Saints, starting in every single match all four years.

“Well, I got really lucky, because being a freshman and playing in college is almost unheard of, and I fully came in expecting to not start,” Snipes said. “Because of my size, I actually am a lot faster than the other setter that was on my freshman team, so we were both able to be on the court at the same time where I would play offense and she would play defense, so I think it was pure luck.”

Snipes has received numerous achievements in her volleyball career as well. She was named Peach Belt Conference specialist of the week three times this year, National player of the Week on Oct. 4 and student athlete of the week on Nov. 20. Snipes was the Peach Belt Conference’s Setter of the Year and a first-team all-conference selection. She was selected as the PBC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player and earned Daktronics second-team All-Southeast Region honors. She was even selected to the 2011 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II All-America Team and is currently sixth in the country in assists per set (11.60).

This season the Saints hold a record of 31-6 and have won the Peach Belt Conference Tournament, the NCAA Southeast Regional and now are ready to play in the NCAA Division II National Tournament Quarterfinals against No. 1 Cal State San Bernardino (30-0).

You can view Snipes and her teammate’s play Cal State in San Bernardino, California today on the live feed link given here, http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/volleyball-women/d2. Simply click on the bracket that reads FLAG-CSUSB and then click “Watch Live.” The match starts at 10:30 p.m. Eastern.