Sarah Harper
Sarah Harper was apprehensive when Terrapins volleyball coach Tim Horsmon approached her about switching positions after the 2010 season.
After all, Harper was a scoring specialist. The outside hitter set the all-time kills record at Western Albemarle High School in Crozet, Va., and notched 20 kills her freshman year in College Park. She loved the thrill of spiking the ball over the net, of earning key points for her team.
But at 5-foot-4, Harper was hardly a prototypical offensive threat. She was easily the smallest player on the Terps’ roster, at least 2 inches shorter than any of her teammates. Horsmon figured her unique combination of size and athleticism made her an ideal candidate to play defense, so he asked her to move to libero — a defensive position prohibited from tallying kills.
And though Harper wasn’t thrilled about the switch, she agreed with her coach’s request.
“Initially, I really missed hitting,” Harper said. “But there’s a point where you just got to do what you got to do to make the team better.”
It was a seamless transition for Harper. In her sophomore campaign last year, she didn’t simply contribute. She didn’t just finish fifth in the ACC in service aces.
She set the single-season school record with 569 digs.
“I think her skill set was already pretty good to be a libero, so I don’t think the transition was that tough for her,” Horsmon said. “She’s probably going to break the all-time [digs] record here, and I think that’s a testament to how hard she’s worked at this.”
That work ethic is the byproduct of a passion for volleyball Harper developed at an early age. While growing up in Charlottesville, Va., Harper tagged along at camps, clinics and tournaments with her older sister, Samantha. She became fascinated — even obsessed — with the sport.
“Sarah went everywhere with [Samantha] and she always had a volleyball with her,” said Becky Swartz, Harper’s mother. “She always wanted to play, and she would hit with whoever would hit with her.”
And when Samantha — who is five years older than Sarah — earned a spot on Division III Mary Washington’s volleyball team, Harper’s goal became clear.
“As soon as she started playing on the college level I was like, ‘I want to do that,’” Harper said. “I wanted to be a Division I player and play in the ACC.”
After spending much of her youth attending nearby University of Virginia’s camps and clinics, Harper figured the Cavaliers could be an option for her. But Virginia, which doesn’t typically recruit local talent, never showed interest.
So she landed with the Terps, one of the nearest ACC schools. All it took for her to choose College Park was an email from the Terps’ coaching staff asking her to join the program.
Now, three years removed from accepting her Terps scholarship offer, Harper has emerged as a leader on a young squad that’s won four of its past five matches.
“I’ve looked up to her from the start,” defensive specialist Kaitlyn King said. “She just has the best work ethic for a player.”
Harper’s work habits have led to some gaudy statistics. But in volleyball, like in most sports, quality defensive players are often overlooked.
So naturally, Harper’s ascent up the Terps’ record books has been a quiet one. It’s easy to forget she has the eighth most digs in school history, and is on track to smash the program’s all-time record next year.
But that hardly means Harper’s presence isn’t felt.
“I would categorize Sarah as a leader-by-example type kid,” Horsmon said. “Very few days, if any, can I remember her not being one of the hardest workers, if not the hardest worker, on the floor.”
Harper used those work habits to adjust to a new position last year. She used them to break a school record. And she used them to establish a reputation as one of the ACC’s premier defenders.
The only question remaining is, where will those habits take her the rest of her career?
“Now that I’ve kind of set a baseline for myself and I know that I can improve, I try to get every dig, every ball off the floor,” Harper said. “There’s no more excuses.”
kasinitz@umdbk.com
