CHICAGO — In its 31st year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, has selected Gabby Curry of Buford High School as its 2015-16 Gatorade Georgia Volleyball Player of the Year. Curry is the first Gatorade Georgia Volleyball Player of the Year to be chosen from Buford High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Curry as Georgia’s best high school volleyball player. Curry joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including USA Volleyball players Kim Glass (2001-02, Horseshoe HS, Penn.), Kim Willoughby (1998-99, 1999-00, Assumption HS, La.) and Ogonna Nnamani (1999-00, University HS, Ill).
The 5-foot-8 junior outside hitter and libero led the Wolves to a 41-0 record and the Class AAAA state championship this past season. Also the Class AAAA Co-Player of the Year as named by the Georgia Volleyball Coaches Association, Curry amassed 508 digs, 283 kills, 116 service aces and 30 assists. In a 3-2, title-clinching win over St. Pius X Catholic, she collected 20 digs, 13 kills and four service aces.
Curry has maintained a 4.00 GPA in the classroom. A member of the National Honor Society as well as her school’s Spanish club and peer leadership team, she has volunteered locally on behalf of Kids & Pros in addition to serving as a youth volleyball instructor.
“Gabby is the type player that gets better and better every time you see her,” said Emi Hughes, head coach at rival North Hall. “Her ability to play multiple positions makes her such a versatile player. I am impressed with the leadership she has on the court even though she is not a senior.”
Curry has verbally committed to play volleyball on scholarship at the University of Kentucky in the fall of 2017.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Curry joins recent Gatorade Georgia Volleyball Players of the Year Paige McKnight (2014-15, Dunwoody High School), Haley Templeton (2013-14, Chattahoochee High School), Teegan Van Gunst (2012-13, Whitewater High School), Mary Hannah Arrington (2011-12, Pope High School), Kelly Murphy (2010-11, Walton High School), Mary Hoey (2009-10, Pope), Monique Mead (2008-09, Landmark Christian) and Betsy Smith (2007-08, Wesleyan School) among the state’s list of former award winners.
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