Last Thursday, October 28, 2017, history was made at Colonia High. Samantha Ashton, a senior on the varsity girls volleyball team, gained her 1000th assist at her semifinal volleyball game.
Samantha Ashton is a senior, graduating with the 2018 class at Colonia High School. Ashton has been apart of the girl’s volleyball program since she was a freshman. Her freshman year she started setting for the high school and she said that she didn’t even know that she was going to be a setter because she had been a middle blocker in middle school. “1,000 assists sounded crazy to me, but I had watched Rachel Triebwasser get 500 kills. I saw her name on the banner, and wanted mine up there as well.”
1,000 assists is very hard to achieve, and no one had ever reached it before Ashton. It was especially difficult for Samantha because she only had three years to get it because only varsity stats count. When Ashton was a sophomore playing her first year of varsity, she knew she would have to work very hard to achieve her goal. Her sophomore year, she only had 56 assists, but she had 476 her junior year, and 527 this year. Ashton didn’t even really believe wholeheartedly that she could get it, until her junior year. It was going to be a hard and long process but she knew her whole team would help her. She was lucky enough to have extremely talented girls and a coach that was right with her.
On October 28, 2017 in a tough semifinal match against Monroe, all the hard work payed off. Ashton’s family who had put up signs on the walls of the bleachers, counted down to her very last assist until 1000. When she reached it, a sense of excitement filled the gym. “I was smiling so much and just crying tears of joy. Everyone came off the bench and hugged me in the middle of the game, and I was so in shock that I accomplished it. I remember thinking, “wow this is real right now.”
Coach Jamie Celia, the junior varsity coach, started coaching for Colonia this year, and said that from what she saw of Ashton this season, she knew she would absolutely be able to accomplish this milestone.
Samantha Ashton will be the first name on the 1000 assist volleyball banner in the gym. It is a huge accomplishment for her, and for the whole program in general. She said, “I still can’t believe it! It is crazy to think that future volleyball players are going to look up and see my name and want to be under it.”
“I was really proud of her because it’s a huge accomplishment and it’s something that she will never forget,” Coach Celia said after the game.
This was a great accomplishment for Sam, but she is still focused on the season that is still progressing. She wants to succeed in the state tournament and just enjoy her time as a senior. After, Ashton hopes to continue her volleyball career in college, even though she doesn’t know where yet. Congratulations again, Sam!
