Volleyball
Favorite athlete: Victoria Garrick
Favorite team: Penn State Women’s Volleyball
Favorite memory competing in sports: Upsetting two teams and making it to the third round of districts
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: In the last set of our last game this season, my teammate dug a ball with her head, and after that point, we started winning.
Music on playlist: The entire Greatest Showman soundtrack
Future plans: Attend either Penn State, Ohio State, or Temple and major in math
Words to live by: “Life is too short to live comfortably.”
One goal before turning 30: Fly a plane
One thing people don’t know about me: I enjoy a daily nap
By Craig Ostroff
As the libero on Upper Dublin’s girls’ volleyball team, one of Annie Faust’s primary duties is to be the first—and often last—line of defense against the biggest and best hitters that opposing teams throw at them.
It’s not exactly easy to stand your ground as a volleyball comes rocketing at you. But there’s nowhere Faust would rather be.
“It’s exciting,” Faust said. “There’s just this rush of emotions when you see a girl going up at the net, or getting set outside. We face some really good hitters, but it’s really rewarding to dig a good hitter. It’s something that made me learn to really love the game and learn it better.
“Three years ago, I would have said something pretty different.”
Indeed, it’s been quite the journey for Faust, a four-year starter in a critical defensive position. A confident and intelligent player, Faust admits it was much different during her freshman season, the lone ninth grader on an experienced squad.
“I was not the greatest player my freshman year,” Faust said. “It’s hard to be the only freshman when everyone else is older and more experienced.
“I did my thing and watched the seniors and the experienced players lead the team. I felt like it was not my place to be as vocal as I should have been. So I had to mentally grow into the position.”
Faust set about improving her skills and abilities, but also devoted countless hours on honing the mental aspect of her game. One of the more cerebral positions in all of sports, being able to see the plays as they develop is a key for a successful libero.
“I think now I’m better at digging and passing, but it was really about mentally improving,” Faust said. “As a freshman, I couldn’t read or pick up on habits. There are players who will do the same things over and over - that was a concept that was lost with me my freshman year. I was playing every point as a brand new point, against a new team, and I was making the same mistakes over and over. I learned to pick up on more things—who are the big hitters, where do they set, who hits the most and where do they tend to hit it.”
Faust said that by the midway point of her sophomore season, she felt comfortable in her abilities and her knowledge of the game. Her coach, however, saw the pieces falling into place a little earlier than that.
“You could see how timid she was at first as the only freshman on the varsity squad,” said UD girls’ volleyball coach Paul Choi. “But halfway through her freshman season, you could see her getting more vocal, you could see her start to do the things she wouldn’t do at first. That’s when we realized that we have an incredible player and we need to keep pushing her and getting her to where she needs to be. Annie is really the heart of our team, and that’s when you could see her start to become that on the court.”
Her sophomore season, Faust earned her first of three first team all-league selections. As a junior, she was named a captain. And this year, Faust and her fellow tri-captains—her twin sister Maggie and Emily Senior—were tasked with keeping the team positive while preparing for a season that might not happen as a result of COVID, and finding ways to provide a sense of team unity despite an inability to hold most of the traditional team bonding events of the past.
“Annie had great leaders when she was a freshman,” Choi said. “We had some outstanding seniors her freshman year. They really took her under their wings, and I think that always stuck with Annie and she’s always tried to pay that forward to the underclassmen.”
“The captains my freshman year—Maggie Weglos, Bryn Stek, and Lin Choi— they made me feel welcome,” Faust said. “And they made me feel like part of the team. I was the only freshman, I felt out of place, but they made it very clear that this team is not separated by grade levels, it’s one team. And that’s something I’ve always tried to do for the girls who have come in after me.”
This summer, that meant socially distanced outdoor team workouts that ended with time spent talking and getting to know one other. It also meant maintaining a positive attitude during the weeks when it looked like a fall sports season might not happen.
“You just try to take it a day at a time,” Faust said. “We didn’t want to keep our heads down, and there’s no point focusing on the negatives. At first, we heard there would be a fall season but only for outdoor sports … then later we found out we were going to have a season, but again, with everything going on, it could still get cancelled at any minute. So you still go day by day and be grateful for the games you do get to play.
“As a senior, it was definitely a relief to know it wasn’t over yet. We were talking as seniors, we wanted more than anything else to make this a fun season. There’s so much going on, and you don’t know what everyone else is going through, but we knew people use sports as an outlet, so we wanted to make sure everyone was having fun.”
Though the season was shortened and nonleague games cancelled, the Flying Cardinals put together a solid season with a 6-4 record, tied for second place in the Suburban One American Conference. Carrying the 15th seed into the District One Class 4A playoffs, the Cards visited second-seeded and undefeated Pennridge in the opening round. After winning the first two sets and dropping the next two, the Cardinals handed the Rams their first loss of the season, winning the decisive fifth set by a 15-10 count.
Not surprisingly, Faust used her knowledge of the opposition to her—and her team’s—benefit.
“We had played Pennridge last year, so we knew a little about how they played,” Faust said. “That was a big leg up. We knew most of their returning players, so that was definitely helpful. They were bigger than us and they hit harder, but I thought we brought more energy, and everyone really brought their ‘A’ Game. There was one point where we all looked at each other and realized, ‘We can really do this.’”
Then, the Cardinals did it again in the second round. Upper Dublin needed only four sets to dispatch seventh seed West Chester Rustin, marking the first time in program history that the Cards advanced past the second round of districts.
With a combined 43 digs between the two playoff games, there was no mistaking who was leading the Cardinal surge.
“Annie was huge,” Choi said. “She knows how to turn it on at the right time. You could see her preparation pay off during the district games. You could see she understood what the game plan was.
“Annie’s not one who cares about personal achievements, but looking at stats alone, we had only 12 matches this season and she was able to get 210 digs and 35 aces. To do that in 12 matches you have to be pretty good and very consistent.”
Faust finishes her career with a program record 1349 digs. It’s a mark that should stand for some time—likely requiring a four-year varsity player and several playoff runs to break.
It’s also a mark that Faust wasn’t exactly striving to reach … mainly because she had no idea what the record was or where she stood in relation to it.
“When they told me, it was kind of surreal, but it was also ‘OK, I broke the record’ … it was honestly something I didn’t even know existed,” Faust said with a laugh. “I definitely care more about the team. As long as the team wins, it doesn’t matter how many digs I get.”
And while the record will etch Faust’s name in the record books, it also goes a long way in showing how important she has been to this team for the past four years.
“Annie is the backbone of our defense, she covers everything,” Choi said. “She’s willing to be where she needs to be, to dive or put her body on the line to do what the team needs. When you’re willing to do all those things, those stats will come.”
Of course, Faust has a little extra inspiration to be at the top of her game. A little friendly competition with your twin sister can be a big motivator.
“We’re kind of competitive,” Faust said. “It’s great to have Maggie on the team, and it’s constant motivation that I can’t let up because she’ll take my spot. Having her as captain, it was great. We did disagree on some things, but that’s where Emily came in as the third captain. She was the mediator.
“Maggie and I had played the same positions at times in the past, and we’d definitely butt heads. I would offer advice and tell her something to do, or she’d tell me, and we would not listen to each other, no matter how helpful the advice would be. It’s something we had to work on and we’ve gotten better as we’ve gotten older.”
As close as the twins are, they are very much their own people with their own personalities.
“We are polar opposites,” Faust said. “We’re very different people. We have a lot of the same friends, but we have a lot of different friends, we always did. We have such different interests—Maggie is interested in cosmetology and clothing. I do not like shopping, I don’t really care how I look in public. We’ve never been in a lot of the same classes, either.”
Nowadays, of course, classes are held in bedrooms and basements. Faust said her senior year has been challenging thus far, but remote learning has been better than she had originally expected.
“I do like that it’s convenient,” said Faust, whose courseload is sprinkled with several AP and Honors classes. “My day usually ends at one, so I have a ton of time to do other things if I need to.
“I’m taking some tough classes that are difficult to do remotely—AP Physics and AP Calculus—where I definitely have to be at the top of my game to succeed. But in long run, these classes will help me with college.”
Faust is uncertain where she’ll spend her next four years. She’s awaiting word from her top two choices, both of which have large Division I volleyball teams. That means that this season was likely the last time Faust will play varsity-level volleyball. Any court time in the future will probably be at the club level.
Wherever she ends up, there’s no doubt what she leaves behind. While the libero is often an overlooked position in a sport where hitters tend to get the spotlight, Faust has found a way to stand out. And most importantly, she’s enjoyed every game, every dig, every moment on the court.
“I’ve always tried not to get too caught up in winning. I don’t want to lose sight of why I play, which is to have fun,” Faust said. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to win, but when you show up to practice in a good mood, you’re going to have fun. I want the girls coming back next year to not lose sight of why they play. And don’t take it for granted. We almost didn’t have a season … you could get injured … don’t take it for granted and enjoy it while you’re playing.”
One person who never took Faust for granted was her coach. He knows how difficult Faust will be to replace on the floor … and knows she’s all but irreplaceable as a role model and leader.
“As a coach, I know that we’re losing a big part of our defense—she’s the type of athlete that every coach wants. She’s done incredible things not just for our team but the program itself,” Choi said. “But more than that, Annie is an incredible person. She’s fun to be around, fun to watch on the court. Having had her on varsity for four years, it’s been really fun to build up that relationship with her. She’s a special player and special person and we’re going to miss that.”
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