Volleyball
Favorite athlete: April Ross
Favorite team: The Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: When I found out I had 1,000 assists during the school season and my whole team ran at me cheering with posters, but I had no idea what was happening and was super confused, then immediately starting crying when I realized what was going on.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: At my first ever tournament for club, I fell on the treadmill at the hotel and had a black eye for the rest of the tournament and weeks after.
Music on playlist: Anything popular/throwbacks. In my opinion, a good song is one everyone knows the words to.
Future plans: Play volleyball in college and study psychology.
Words to live by: “We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.” -Maya Angelou
One goal before turning 30: I would like to become a therapist/counselor to help people with any mental hardships they might have.
One thing people don’t know about me: I used to play softball and was kind of good but quit because it got in the way of volleyball, and I didn’t like it as much.
By Mary Jane Souder
Izzy Reilly grew up with a ball in her hands, but it was hardly your typical ball.
For the Abington senior, volleyball was the ball – and much later - sport of choice. It turns out Reilly’s mother was a CYO volleyball coach, and for Reilly, it was a natural choice.
“I’ve been around volleyball since I was literally a baby, and I’ve had a volleyball in my hands since I could walk,” she said.
It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Reilly – who attended St. Luke Catholic School through eighth grade - made an unusual offer to coach Dan Marsh when she attended her very first open gym the summer after eighth grade.
“When I met her, I’m like – ‘What position do you play?’” Marsh recalled. “She said, ‘What do you need?’ I said, ‘I need a setter,’ and she said, ‘Well, then I’m your setter.’ After I saw her play, I knew she was.”
“I knew that he needed a setter because I knew the previous setter just graduated,” Reilly said. “I told him I was a setter, hoping he would make me the setter of the team. I’d played every position previously, and I did have a setting background.”
While neither is completely sure exactly how that first conversation went, both player and coach agree that Reilly knew the Ghosts needed a setter, and she was more than willing to take on the task.
An all-league selection in all three of her years and a sure bet to make it four straight, Reilly has handed out over 1,300 assists and is the program’s all-time assist leader.
“There’s nothing Izzy can’t do on the volleyball court,” Marsh said. “She literally can do anything on the volleyball court, but she’s worked really hard on her footwork, so she’s able to get behind the ball and push it to the outside. She works endlessly.”
While Reilly’s accomplishments are impressive, listening to her coach tell it, that’s just a small part of what sets the senior captain apart.
“The growth I’ve seen in Izzy since the day that I met her has just been immeasurable,” Marsh said. “She went from a shy introverted kid who just wanted to play volleyball as her escape, and she has become a leader and has really become a positive influence on everyone else. She gets on kids, and she holds them accountable.
“She grew into that role because she wasn’t the most vocal person, and obviously, as a setter, you have to be that person.”
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Reilly acknowledges she’s one of the very few youngsters that didn’t play soccer. She did play softball for several years, but her heart wasn’t in it. Volleyball was her passion, and she began playing CYO volleyball at a young age and also attended clinics and participated in GYAC (Glenside Youth Athletic Club) tournaments.
“I’ve always loved volleyball,” she said. “I’ve always found it super interesting – watching college players, amazing volleyball players.
“I’ve had a few rough patches, but I’ve always come back to it. It’s always been my first love.”
At the age of 10, Reilly joined the competitive club circuit, playing for six years with Infinty and more recently joining TNT.
“The thing about Izzy – and I don’t think people know this, but she will probably end up playing libero in college because she’s easily our best passer,” Marsh said. “She’s a natural passer.”
It’s a part of the game Reilly enjoys.
“I think it’s innate - my club team was very strict on passing,” she said. “They always made sure we could all pass, so I’ve always just kept those key things that they taught us with me.”
Ask Reilly what she has enjoyed most about her years on the volleyball team, and she needs just two words – the friendships.
“Coming to Abington freshman year was really hard because the whole team already knew each other from seventh and eighth grade because they start in junior high, but I didn’t,” she said. “I just became friendly with everyone, and I’ve kept my friends all four years of high school from volleyball.
“It was super helpful with friends, and socially, it didn’t make going to a public school as hard. It was very different from Catholic school.”
Abington will be competing in the District One 3A Tournament, and Marsh will look to his senior captain to set the tone.
“She’s always led by example, but she’s learned how to use her words to motivate her teammates and keep them in line,” Marsh said. “There was a game we weren’t playing well, and she took over the huddle and was like, ‘Let’s get focused.’
“We’ve had some ups and downs this season, but no matter who we play (in districts), we will give someone a good game, and that’s because of Izzy’s growth and her leadership.”
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When Marsh says that Reilly has had a “rough go at it with life,” it’s a point his senior captain won’t argue. Around the time she was to begin her freshman year at Abington, her father left both Izzy and her mother, and neither have seen or heard from him since.
“There was definitely stuff happening in my family, but volleyball has always been a safe place for me,” Reilly said. “My friends and Marsh – they’ve always accepted me. It was always a place I could go and not have to worry and not think about my dad for a few hours.”
Although Reilly is without a father, she admits his departure from her life was in many ways a relief and brought an end to a tumultuous chapter in her life.
“It really was a relief,” she said. “It was such a burden and always something to worry about with him being in my life, and when he was gone, me and everyone in my family just felt so much more free and happier.
“My mom has always been my rock, she’s always been with me, she’s always supported me with everything. Even with all the stuff with my father, I’ve always looked up to her for being so strong. I think it brought us even closer. He was abusive, but he would never touch my other siblings (a half-brother and half-sister). It would just be me and my mom, so that was definitely a bond.
“For both of us, it definitely changed our outlook on life just in general. I think we’re both so much more positive about things. He brought such negativity in our lives, and when he was gone, it just flipped that, and it became a whole different world. Everything was just more positive and happy. I wasn’t looking for the bad things in life anymore, I was always looking for the good now.”
Reilly is looking to take what she’s learned through her life experiences to help others and is considering a psychology major.
“That is obviously something that I’ve struggled with mental health, and I want to help other people get through it and figure out what’s wrong and what they’re thinking,” she said.
Volleyball will be part of her future. Reilly has a list of schools she is considering but has not narrowed it down. Wherever she lands, the school – according to Marsh – will be lucky to have her.
“Izzy has become a strong young woman,” he said. “And she’s right – her mom has held it together through the tough times.
“I always say I’m her volleyball dad, which she laughs at, but I’ve developed a really good rapport with her, and she’s one of my favorite kids of all time.”
