Maumee grad Camy Wedge hits career milestone at Spring Arbor

By JEREMY SCHNEIDER

IMA SPORTS

Great athletes don’t show up to games and expect to perform at a high level. They put in countless hours of work to prepare for the spotlight.

Maumee graduate Camy Wedge has been a perfect example of that. From her time with the Panthers volleyball team to now after two seasons at Spring Arbor University, Wedge has put in the work and time to continually improve.

Earlier this season, Wedge reached a career milestone with the 1,000th assist in her career with the Cougars. She now has 1,057 assists in two seasons.

“I feel very humbled and grateful about it,” Wedge said. “We consistently ran a two-setter system throughout the season, where I played three rows in both my freshman and sophomore years. I trained a lot in an out-of-system setting and staying unreadable to the blockers, and just flat-out bettering the ball, puts the offense in great spots to score.

“A major focus I had this year was to get to every ball and be disciplined in my purposeful communication and direction. So, this is an exciting milestone but I am fortunate to have such a great support system that believes in me and what I can bring to the court.”

As a sophomore, Wedge totaled a team-high 537 assists along with 248 digs in 105 sets played. Through her two years, she has 508 digs in 230 assists, along with her assist total. She was named honorable mention All-Crossroads League.

Spring Arbor finished with a 12-16 record this season and a 6-12 mark in the league. During Wedge’s freshman season, the Cougars were 16-16 overall and 9-9 in the league.

Despite the losing record, Wedge still saw positives in the program’s growth that “will shock people.”

“Our team is very young, only graduating one senior and one assistant,” she said. “Our goals included taking it to the teams who were ranked to show we could play high-intensity, good, and clean volleyball. Although losing some unexpected matches in the conference we matched the play of top-ranked teams and won.

“A lot of our drive comes from team culture and it continues to get better and better. We planted that seed this year, and I am so excited to see the way our returners and I want it more every season.”

Wedge said the jump from high school to college was big, but her experience at Maumee helped prepare her for it. During the offseason between her freshman and sophomore seasons, she took more time to ask questions, reserve gym time, studying film and watching NCAA Division I volleyball.

Her biggest area of growth wasn’t with her physical game, though.

“A lot of my growth was made more mentally than physically this season,” Wedge said. “My biggest area of growth was confidence and believing when I stepped out on the court, in practice and matches, that I prepared for this.”

Even with the career milestone in the bag, Wedge knows there’s more work to be done.

“I want to continue to be the hardest worker, the most intentional teammate and the most coachable athlete,” she said. “I think so much growth can come from humbling ourselves so we get the full picture of what we can accomplish.

“Being an upperclassman and returner, the expectations to be great are high. The standards are competitive and our gym atmosphere is going to be full of experience. I just want to continue to serve others in every part of my life, and being a setter is a living example of bettering yourself for other teammates.

“I am so excited for the offseason because I call for a lot of intentional reps, training and lifting so I can try my best to be that high standard for incoming players and players to come to SAU.”

Photo courtesy of Pride of the Panthers

Reach IMA at insidemaumeeathletics@gmail.com