Victorious Victoria

For volleyball senior Victoria Baptista, the 2018 season has already proven more significant than all the others. The outside hitter has been playing volleyball since fourth grade, now in her final season as a Lady Flame, she is leading the team in digs, kills and aces. 

Baptista credits her early success to her teammates because when she starts thinking about herself and her potential stats, she does not perform well. She said her mindset stays focused on putting her teammates first over the sport because it is not just about volleyball, but something bigger.

“It’s different being a senior because even though I don’t realize yet, I know it’s my last season,” Baptista said. “So, every game that I go out there I just try to leave it all out for me and for my teammates because I know this is the last opportunity that I have that I get to play volleyball.”

As a Brazil native and transfer from Panola College, Baptista did not take the usual track to begin her collegiate volleyball career. According to Baptista, in Brazil most have to make the choice between academics or athletics after high school, so if she wanted to actively pursue both, moving to the United States provided the best opportunity.

“By the time I was thinking about quitting volleyball and focusing on my academic career, it was really big for athletes there to come here and keep playing and studying,” Baptista said. “It was always a thought in the back of my mind, but I never really went through with it because I didn’t want to leave my family and everything.”

Her mind changed when her mother gave her a trip to Miami for one of her birthdays. Baptista said she was amazed by everything she saw in the United States and she wanted to come back and continue her volleyball career. 

Baptista’s collegiate career began in Carthage, Texas at a junior college where she helped her team enter the NJCAA Division 1 National Championships as the No. 1 seed in 2016. Since Panola is a two-year college, she planned on transferring for the 2017 season to finish her degree. While waiting on offers, Liberty became very interested in her and the uniqueness of the campus and team drew her in.

“I came in the fall so everything was so pretty,” Baptista said. “I was amazed by the atmosphere, and I think that my favorite thing about the team is that everyone is Christ-centered. Regardless of what we do on the court, that doesn’t define us, that is just what we do it’s not what we are.”

After a year of playing as a Lady Flame, Baptista said Liberty has not been what she had originally expected. She was not expecting everyone to be so nice or the team and coaching staff to be positive or encouraging. And just as the university has surpassed her expectations, she is hoping her last season will, too.

“I have really high expectations on me,” Baptista said. “I guess I’m really hard on myself, especially since it’s the last season. But for me, as long as I can give it all to my teammates and I know that I am someone they can trust and that they can lean on, I will be happy. That will be enough.”

The Flames opened their season with a couple of tournaments, including trips to Texas to play South Carolina, Houston Baptist and Rice and games in Maryland against South Carolina, Colgate and Maryland. Baptista described it as a good experience for the team to win and learn from games, play big-name schools and get hungrier for the start of their conference play. 

“Going out there and playing all those big teams and to see a little bit of everything was so when we get to conference we already experienced a little bit of everybody’s game so that we are not getting caught by surprise,” Baptista said. 

According to Baptista, this schedule in the beginning of the season was purposed by new Head Coach Trevor Johnson to prepare the team for the inaugural season competing in the Atlantic Sun Conference, one that houses higher level teams than the Big South. The Flames recently defeated University of Virginia and will have their first in-conference game Sept. 21 against North Florida.