Mike Ridaught
Today’s Rising Senior spotlight is on Grace Oelrich of Newberry High School.
Oelrich is a middle blocker for the Panthers’ volleyball team. Last year, she finished third in the voting for the Florida Dairy Farmers Class 1A Player of the Year after finishing with 254 kills, 102 blocks, 152 service points, and 31 aces as Newberry advanced to the state championship before falling to Sneads in the 1A title game.
Oelrich’s favorite high school sports moment was winning the state semifinal against Branford last year as a junior. She finished the match with 12 kills and five blocks in a 3-1 win for the Panthers back on November 9th. She now has 572 kills, 188 blocks and 46 aces in her high school career heading into her senior season.
Oelrich is one of seven returning starters on this year’s Newberry volleyball team, which is scheduled to open the regular season at Oak Hall School of Gainesville on Tuesday, August 18th.
She has been a 3-year honor-roll student and a member of the Spanish Honor Society.
Her goals for her senior year are to win state and graduate in the top 10 of her class. Oelrich is verbally committed to Rollins College. However, it was a different sport that caught the eye of a coach at the college located in Winter Park, near Orlando. The Rollins College Rowing Coach found out about her, she went for a visit, and he wants her to Row. Oelrich is excited about the opportunity for Rowing there.
Oelrich said that volleyball will be done after her senior year in high school so she’s hoping to finish on top.
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Mike Ridaught is the founder and publisher of ThePrepZone.com, the foremost website for high school sports in northeast Florida.