Volleyball
Favorite athlete: Misty May & Kerri Walsh
Favorite team: Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning back-to-back SOL Continental Conference championships.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: I was invited to play with the Shippensburg University team, and during the scrimmage, I got nailed in the face. She definitely put me in my place!
Music on iPod: Country all the way
Future plans: Playing at Shippensburg University and studying elementary education
Words to live by: YOLO (‘You only live once.’)
One goal before turning 30: Travel the world and visit Italy
One thing people don’t know about me: I was born in Knoxville, Tennessee
By Mary Jane Souder
Ulana Keer calls it the ‘Abby Standard.’
The Central Bucks South coach is referring simply to the high standard Abby Mummert places on herself every time she steps onto the volleyball court.
“Abby gets frustrated if she makes a mistake, but I think she wants to be perfect,” Keer said. “Every touch she has on the ball – she wants it to be perfect. Sometimes she’s a little hard on herself.
“I tell her, ‘Abby, if you get 30 shots or if you’re involved in every play, it’s hard to be perfect every play.’ She has very high standards.”
Mummert has reaped the dividends for those high standards. The CB South senior is not only one of the area’s premiere volleyball players, she also is the undisputed leader of a relatively inexperienced Titan squad.
The Titans are fresh off back-to-back conference championship seasons, and the burden of trying to keep that tradition alive has been placed firmly on the shoulders of Mummert.
“She’s the sole captain,” Keer said. “She’s a very powerful player on the court, and she’s going to have to come up with some big numbers this year.
“She’s going to have to take the brunt of the wins and losses because it’s going to fall a lot on her shoulders, and that’s hard.”
Hard for some, a welcome challenge to Mummert.
“There’s a lot of pressure, but I don’t know – I like the pressure,” she said. “It gives me a little umph to go out and play my heart out every single match.
“It gives me a reason to prove myself and also prove my team is always around me. I will support them. It makes it fun for me.”
Mummert, a four-year varsity starter, has been the cornerstone of a Central Bucks South program that Keer built from the ground up, turning the struggling program into a conference champion. This year, Mummert – a first team all-league outside hitter – is the centerpiece of her squad.
“I can’t ignore Abby,” Keer said. “Abby is in the forefront of my mind every day. Everything we do revolves around Abby.”
Mummert, who was born in Knoxville, Tenn., got her first taste of volleyball after her family moved to Pennsylvania.
“When we moved here, I played basketball for a while and I loved that,” she said. “In fourth or fifth grade, my parents wanted me to sign up for club, so I did.”
Mummert has competed on the club circuit ever since, and it’s the high level of competition she enjoys most.
“You’re always competing for that one point, that crucial point,” she said. “I love the close games because it makes things exciting, and I like to make things exciting.”
Mummert was a fixture in the middle of the net for both her club and high school teams until midway through the season last year.
“It was at a tournament, and coach Keer was like, ‘Let’s try the outside,’” Mummert recalled. “I had played middle my whole entire life. I had never done anything else.
“It was a huge difference because middle is really fast paced, and outside is waiting. For me, it’s really hard to wait. I like things to just go, go, go.”
At the same time, Mummert was asked to play all the way around as well.
“The adjustment was timing and understanding defense because I had never played serve receive or played all the way around,” she said. “I always wanted to play all the way around, but it was a big change.”
A change that made Mummert a more complete player.
“As the evolution of volleyball happens with each player, so does their positioning,” Keer said. “During her sophomore year, I suggested to Abby that she really is an outside hitter. She kind of fought me, but I told her – ‘I think you’re going to have more success in the long run being an outside hitter.’
“Last year she said, ‘Oh yes, I can do this, no problem.’”
Mummert also moved to the outside for her Philadelphia Volleyball Academy club squad as well.
According to Keer, the transition was seamless, and Mummert, who measures in at 5-11, was a natural fit to play all the way around.
“When she made that transition to the back row, the whole game of volleyball opened up to her, and she got a better view of what she needed to do defensively and offensively,” Keer said. “I think her heart became entrenched, so to speak, in the game once she became a complete player.
“From that perspective, I’m thrilled she’s had great coaches along the way. I’m thrilled she’s been such a great part of our program. Physically and mentally, she’s given everything. She’s kind of stepping into an evolution that’s been very unique. I don’t have a lot of kids I can say have been like that.”
This year, the Titans will not only be without last year’s talented senior class but also standout setter Kaitlyn Kushman, who transferred to Lansdale Catholic.
“It’s tough because we’re rebuilding,” Mummert said. “The girls on our team now haven’t really experienced the high level volleyball that varsity is at, but at practices, we work really hard.
“We go out and, no matter what, we stick together, and we can be successful if we have the heart and mind to do it. It’s just a matter of finding the want to get there.”
Mummert has already made a verbal commitment to take her talents to Shippensburg University next year where she will major in elementary education. She chose Shippensburg from a final list that included Clarion and West Virginia.
“They have an elementary school on campus, so the college fit me, the coach fit me, and the players fit me,” Mummert said. “It felt like home, it felt like family, and that’s what I like about volleyball. It always felt like family.”
For now, Mummert is focused on leading her Titan squad’s defense to a conference crown it owns.
“Athletically, she steps onto the court, and she looks like a top-notch volleyball player, so right there kids are going to respond to her,” Keer said. “She’s a very nice kid.
“She’s playing along with four other seniors, and from that perspective, she’s really relying on her senior friends to make it happen. I have a wonderful group of juniors. They all respect her, and they want to do very well for her and for themselves. They want to win. It should be an interesting fall.”
