University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Craig Lassig
GoHeels Exclusive: Atherton Shooting for the Stars
August 31, 2018 | Volleyball, Featured Writers
By Pat James, GoHeels.com
When the opportunity arose this spring for the North Carolina volleyball team to add another player to its roster, head coach Joe Sagula could have gone a different direction.
A few months still remained on the 2017-18 recruiting calendar. And as many coaches likely would have done, Sagula could have easily turned his attention to landing another freshman, one who could have bolstered an already-talented incoming class and played a significant role in shaping the program's future.
But he didn't.
Instead, the Tar Heels needed "something special," Sagula said. More than anything, they needed experience. It took some time, including a brief period of uncertainty. But ultimately, they found what they were looking for in Nebraska transfer Hunter Atherton.
Atherton served as the backup setter for most of the Huskers' 2017 national championship season. She redshirted the year before. Despite playing just one year at the college level before this season, though, she's emerged as the starting setter and a veteran leader on a team that returns only seven players from last season.
"From what I understand about Hunter, she's matured quite a bit from her freshman year at Nebraska to who she is now, as a person," Sagula said. "So I think she's come (to UNC) at the right time in her personal development and as well as her development as a volleyball player."
'Shooting for the stars'
The daughter of Kim and Keith Atherton – the former head and assistant volleyball coaches at Pleasant (Ohio) High School, respectively – Hunter grew up immersed in the sport. She joined her first team in second grade.
That same year, she came home crying after failing a test. She'd broken her only pencil, and rules prevented her from sharpening it as her classmates worked.
"I told my mom that because I failed my test that I wasn't going to be able to go to a scholarship school and play volleyball," she said. "So I wanted to do that for as long as I can remember."
That dream became more attainable as she progressed.
An outside/opposite hitter, Atherton realized as a high school freshman that she wouldn't grow much more. She likely couldn't play either position in college at her height, 5-foot-11.
Thus, she switched to setter.
Initially, Atherton worked with her mother to improve at her new position. But one the biggest impacts on her setting was Audrey Flaugh, a former Ohio State and Canadian National Team starting setter. Flaugh is currently a Big Ten Network volleyball color analyst.
With Flaugh's help, Atherton became an Under Armour first-team All-American and the No. 41 prospect in the Class of 2016, according to PrepVolleyball.com. She verbally committed to Nebraska, the winningest Division I volleyball program, as a sophomore. The state's college volleyball-crazed culture drew her.
Upon joining the Huskers, Atherton said she didn't expect to redshirt. It wasn't until midway through her first year that she learned that would be the case.
"It was hard, for sure," she said. "But the other freshman and I, we both redshirted, so we kind of leaned on each other to get through it, because it is hard going from playing every day to not competing."
Atherton played in 20 matches last season. She started the first two, recording 47 and 43 assists in each. But when Kelly Hunter, Nebraska's first-team All-American setter and a valuable resource for Atherton, returned from injury, Atherton started coming off the bench.
A serving substitute late in the year, Atherton recorded 13 aces. Two came in the Huskers' NCAA semifinal win over Penn State. They claimed the program's fifth national title two days later.
"I've always been shooting for the stars, I guess, in volleyball my whole life," said Atherton when asked about winning the national championship. "It was really emotional, and it's one of those things that's just always going to be kind of surreal."
But by then, she knew her time at Nebraska was nearing an end.
'A huge lift'
Shortly after the national championship match in December, Atherton returned to her hometown of Prospect, Ohio, where she spent winter break discussing her future with her family and the Huskers' coaches.
She pauses now when asked why she transferred. But over time, she'd started accepting how she didn't necessarily fit the mold of a typical Nebraska setter.
The Huskers play pretty safe, Atherton said, noting how they "go to their big guns because they have the big guns to go to." Yet she's never played like that. Instead, she's always prided herself on playing unpredictably and making sets that other players might shy away from attempting.
"That kind of led to some disagreement," Atherton said, "not necessarily with any people in particular, but just with the style between the play of the game and how I played. So I kind of just felt like I wasn't going to be my most successful there and I could be more successful someplace else."
Shortly after reaching her decision to transfer, Atherton contacted Sagula to express her interest in Carolina. Sagula felt comfortable with the Tar Heels' roster then. So he encouraged Atherton to look elsewhere so she might find a program that she could contribute more to.
Two weeks later, Sagula called Atherton again.
"Something major has changed," he told her. "So let's see if we can make this happen."
At that time, Sagula said Atherton was involved with two other schools. She'd already visited one, and was preparing for her trip to the other that Friday. So Sagula and his staff rushed to organize an official visit, bringing Atherton to Chapel Hill within two days of Sagula's call.
Sagula felt optimistic after Atherton's visit. Trying to avoid pressuring her, he encouraged her to make her last visit. And if she was still interested in UNC, he told her to text him after her trip.
That Friday came and went. But Atherton's much-anticipated text never arrived.
"Well, this is a bummer," Sagula thought. "We don't know what's going to happen."
The next day, coaching in a preseason tournament at Duke, Sagula turned around midway through day, only to spot Atherton, wearing a new Carolina pullover.
Atherton and her mother had flown back to Columbus, Ohio, after the last official visit, Sagula said. Along the way back, Atherton decided to attend UNC, a place she said she could still be happy at if volleyball was ever taken away from her. So after landing in Columbus, Atherton and her mother hopped in their car and drove through the night to Chapel Hill.
Saturday morning, they went to UNC Student Stores, where Atherton bought her pullover. They then tracked down the team at Duke, much to the delight of Sagula, his staff and the players.
"I was shocked," Sagula said. "It was like a huge lift to everybody because they all felt really good about Hunter as a player and as a person. It was quite a unique way to say, 'I'm committing, I'm coming.'
"We knew then we had a good one."
'One less person to worry about'
When the Tar Heels took the floor last Friday for their season opener against then-No. 9 Wisconsin, many of them had never played in an environment such as the one inside the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis.
But Atherton had. And her experience showed, setting 25 of Carolina's 28 kills before registering a double-double (45 assists and 11 digs) against then-No. 4 Minnesota on Saturday.
"The nerves, the anxiety that you get as a player sometimes, she was fine," Sagula said. "So it's like one less person to worry about, and we could focus on helping our younger players."
Early on, Atherton's impact has also been evident in practices.
Specifically, Sagula said she helps set the tone each day by demonstrating a willingness to sacrifice her body on defense. That, he added, complements the play of Mia Fradenburg, Casey Jacobs and Greer Moseman. Atherton has also provided the team a sense of stability.
Before this season, Sagula said the Tar Heels hadn't run a 5-1 offense – which features five hitters and just one setter for all six rotations – in about eight years. Instead, they've relied on a 6-2 system. That offense uses three front-row hitters and a back-row setter. After three rotations, the setter rotates to the front row, becoming a hitter, and the opposite hitter rotates to the back row, becoming the setter - requiring a pair of substitutions to bring in a new hitter and setter to the front and back rows, respectively.
UNC's recent personnel prevented it from running a 5-1. But because Atherton can also block, she's been tasked with quarterbacking the offense. In that role, she's felt comfortable playing her style, without any restrictions from the coaching staff.
"There's been multiple times where, even if I make an error and I'm frustrated with myself," Atherton said, "they've be like, 'Oh, great decision. You just didn't execute it properly.' Those kinds of things are really helpful for me.
"They have brought a lot of confidence with that and especially trusting me to lead the team essentially."
Friday night, she'll help lead the Tar Heels into their first home match of the season against UNCG – and her first-ever at Carmichael Arena.
To this point in her Carolina career, she's rarely discussed her championship experience with the team. But because of where she comes from and the types of players she's been surrounded by, Sagula knows Atherton can bring a championship mentality to the program.
"She's still got some learning to do," Sagula said, "and I think we can help her in her setting technically and how she's going to go to the next level. She's still a young setter; she's only a sophomore, which is kind of cool. But yet, she's in her third year of college. And that maturity was significant."
It was everything he was looking for.
Stay up to date with Carolina Volleyball by following the Tar Heels on Twitter and Instagram.
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When the opportunity arose this spring for the North Carolina volleyball team to add another player to its roster, head coach Joe Sagula could have gone a different direction.
A few months still remained on the 2017-18 recruiting calendar. And as many coaches likely would have done, Sagula could have easily turned his attention to landing another freshman, one who could have bolstered an already-talented incoming class and played a significant role in shaping the program's future.
But he didn't.
Instead, the Tar Heels needed "something special," Sagula said. More than anything, they needed experience. It took some time, including a brief period of uncertainty. But ultimately, they found what they were looking for in Nebraska transfer Hunter Atherton.
Atherton served as the backup setter for most of the Huskers' 2017 national championship season. She redshirted the year before. Despite playing just one year at the college level before this season, though, she's emerged as the starting setter and a veteran leader on a team that returns only seven players from last season.
"From what I understand about Hunter, she's matured quite a bit from her freshman year at Nebraska to who she is now, as a person," Sagula said. "So I think she's come (to UNC) at the right time in her personal development and as well as her development as a volleyball player."
'Shooting for the stars'
The daughter of Kim and Keith Atherton – the former head and assistant volleyball coaches at Pleasant (Ohio) High School, respectively – Hunter grew up immersed in the sport. She joined her first team in second grade.
That same year, she came home crying after failing a test. She'd broken her only pencil, and rules prevented her from sharpening it as her classmates worked.
"I told my mom that because I failed my test that I wasn't going to be able to go to a scholarship school and play volleyball," she said. "So I wanted to do that for as long as I can remember."
That dream became more attainable as she progressed.
An outside/opposite hitter, Atherton realized as a high school freshman that she wouldn't grow much more. She likely couldn't play either position in college at her height, 5-foot-11.
Thus, she switched to setter.
Initially, Atherton worked with her mother to improve at her new position. But one the biggest impacts on her setting was Audrey Flaugh, a former Ohio State and Canadian National Team starting setter. Flaugh is currently a Big Ten Network volleyball color analyst.
With Flaugh's help, Atherton became an Under Armour first-team All-American and the No. 41 prospect in the Class of 2016, according to PrepVolleyball.com. She verbally committed to Nebraska, the winningest Division I volleyball program, as a sophomore. The state's college volleyball-crazed culture drew her.
Upon joining the Huskers, Atherton said she didn't expect to redshirt. It wasn't until midway through her first year that she learned that would be the case.
"It was hard, for sure," she said. "But the other freshman and I, we both redshirted, so we kind of leaned on each other to get through it, because it is hard going from playing every day to not competing."
Atherton played in 20 matches last season. She started the first two, recording 47 and 43 assists in each. But when Kelly Hunter, Nebraska's first-team All-American setter and a valuable resource for Atherton, returned from injury, Atherton started coming off the bench.
A serving substitute late in the year, Atherton recorded 13 aces. Two came in the Huskers' NCAA semifinal win over Penn State. They claimed the program's fifth national title two days later.
"I've always been shooting for the stars, I guess, in volleyball my whole life," said Atherton when asked about winning the national championship. "It was really emotional, and it's one of those things that's just always going to be kind of surreal."
But by then, she knew her time at Nebraska was nearing an end.
'A huge lift'
Shortly after the national championship match in December, Atherton returned to her hometown of Prospect, Ohio, where she spent winter break discussing her future with her family and the Huskers' coaches.
She pauses now when asked why she transferred. But over time, she'd started accepting how she didn't necessarily fit the mold of a typical Nebraska setter.
The Huskers play pretty safe, Atherton said, noting how they "go to their big guns because they have the big guns to go to." Yet she's never played like that. Instead, she's always prided herself on playing unpredictably and making sets that other players might shy away from attempting.
"That kind of led to some disagreement," Atherton said, "not necessarily with any people in particular, but just with the style between the play of the game and how I played. So I kind of just felt like I wasn't going to be my most successful there and I could be more successful someplace else."
Shortly after reaching her decision to transfer, Atherton contacted Sagula to express her interest in Carolina. Sagula felt comfortable with the Tar Heels' roster then. So he encouraged Atherton to look elsewhere so she might find a program that she could contribute more to.
Two weeks later, Sagula called Atherton again.
"Something major has changed," he told her. "So let's see if we can make this happen."
At that time, Sagula said Atherton was involved with two other schools. She'd already visited one, and was preparing for her trip to the other that Friday. So Sagula and his staff rushed to organize an official visit, bringing Atherton to Chapel Hill within two days of Sagula's call.
Sagula felt optimistic after Atherton's visit. Trying to avoid pressuring her, he encouraged her to make her last visit. And if she was still interested in UNC, he told her to text him after her trip.
That Friday came and went. But Atherton's much-anticipated text never arrived.
"Well, this is a bummer," Sagula thought. "We don't know what's going to happen."
The next day, coaching in a preseason tournament at Duke, Sagula turned around midway through day, only to spot Atherton, wearing a new Carolina pullover.
Atherton and her mother had flown back to Columbus, Ohio, after the last official visit, Sagula said. Along the way back, Atherton decided to attend UNC, a place she said she could still be happy at if volleyball was ever taken away from her. So after landing in Columbus, Atherton and her mother hopped in their car and drove through the night to Chapel Hill.
Saturday morning, they went to UNC Student Stores, where Atherton bought her pullover. They then tracked down the team at Duke, much to the delight of Sagula, his staff and the players.
"I was shocked," Sagula said. "It was like a huge lift to everybody because they all felt really good about Hunter as a player and as a person. It was quite a unique way to say, 'I'm committing, I'm coming.'
"We knew then we had a good one."
'One less person to worry about'
When the Tar Heels took the floor last Friday for their season opener against then-No. 9 Wisconsin, many of them had never played in an environment such as the one inside the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis.
But Atherton had. And her experience showed, setting 25 of Carolina's 28 kills before registering a double-double (45 assists and 11 digs) against then-No. 4 Minnesota on Saturday.
"The nerves, the anxiety that you get as a player sometimes, she was fine," Sagula said. "So it's like one less person to worry about, and we could focus on helping our younger players."
Early on, Atherton's impact has also been evident in practices.
Specifically, Sagula said she helps set the tone each day by demonstrating a willingness to sacrifice her body on defense. That, he added, complements the play of Mia Fradenburg, Casey Jacobs and Greer Moseman. Atherton has also provided the team a sense of stability.
Before this season, Sagula said the Tar Heels hadn't run a 5-1 offense – which features five hitters and just one setter for all six rotations – in about eight years. Instead, they've relied on a 6-2 system. That offense uses three front-row hitters and a back-row setter. After three rotations, the setter rotates to the front row, becoming a hitter, and the opposite hitter rotates to the back row, becoming the setter - requiring a pair of substitutions to bring in a new hitter and setter to the front and back rows, respectively.
UNC's recent personnel prevented it from running a 5-1. But because Atherton can also block, she's been tasked with quarterbacking the offense. In that role, she's felt comfortable playing her style, without any restrictions from the coaching staff.
"There's been multiple times where, even if I make an error and I'm frustrated with myself," Atherton said, "they've be like, 'Oh, great decision. You just didn't execute it properly.' Those kinds of things are really helpful for me.
"They have brought a lot of confidence with that and especially trusting me to lead the team essentially."
Friday night, she'll help lead the Tar Heels into their first home match of the season against UNCG – and her first-ever at Carmichael Arena.
To this point in her Carolina career, she's rarely discussed her championship experience with the team. But because of where she comes from and the types of players she's been surrounded by, Sagula knows Atherton can bring a championship mentality to the program.
"She's still got some learning to do," Sagula said, "and I think we can help her in her setting technically and how she's going to go to the next level. She's still a young setter; she's only a sophomore, which is kind of cool. But yet, she's in her third year of college. And that maturity was significant."
It was everything he was looking for.
Stay up to date with Carolina Volleyball by following the Tar Heels on Twitter and Instagram.
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