Little hits 1,000 digs in volleyball

Senior Josie Little had her 1000th dig toward the end of the 2024 Volleyball season. At the last home game in October, her coach Shayley Love surprised her with a poster.

Little admits she checks her statistics after each game, so she can make goals for the next game because she wants to get better. “It’s not a priority for me, but it is fun to see how I did after each game,” Little said.

She ended the season with 363 digs, which means she averaged more in the first three years than she did this year. Regardless, it is rare for an athlete to have 1,000 digs in a four-year high school career.

A dig is a defensive move to keep a ball from hitting the floor - usually from a serve or a high-speed kill.

Little is an outside hitter for the Saratoga Panthers, but she plays all positions. Digging is her favorite because she likes taking a kill from the opponent. Doing kills is also fun, Little said.

“It makes the game competitive.”

Little said she was totally caught by surprise, because she didn’t know the coach was going to make such a big deal of it.

Little has been playing since she was 10 years old, but she watched her older sisters compete. Her oldest sister Cassidy started playing volleyball when Josie was 6 years old. Riley followed Cassidy’s footsteps, then Josie.

She was thrilled when the team made regionals, because she had watched both of her sisters play in regionals.

She gets a lot of time to test herself during practice on digs, but she also watches films of the opponents to see how they play, so that she can anticipate hitters tendencies so she knows where to be at the right time.

But not all players are consistent in their kills and hit the ball into a different part of the court. Little said she tells herself she can react and get the ball. “If I don’t think I can get it, then I won’t get it, but if I think I can, I usually do,” Little said.

It is that positive attitude that got her to 1,000 digs.

That is as far as she goes when following her sisters as she competes in indoor track rather than play basketball. “Most people are surprised to find out I don’t play basketball, because her sisters were so good,” Little said.

She is hoping to play volleyball in college and is actually looking forward to starting over again as a freshman learning the ropes. “It was fun being a senior and telling people what they needed to do, but I kind of miss being that timid little freshman.”

She is looking forward to the newness of trying to prove herself again.

She has talked to some coaches, but has not made a commitment yet.

Her indoor track season starts in January and she competes as a Rawlins Outlaw, since CCSD2 does not have an indoor track team. Competing in indoor track definitely helps her in volleyball.