After a stellar senior year, Lynnfield’s Celia Carbone is now a freshman volleyball player at Salem State. Carbone, who set the school record for assists in a game with 42, has been enjoying her first few weeks as a college athlete.
“I love the atmosphere here. Everyone is really nice and my teammates are wicked supportive and inclusive,” Carbone said. “The staff are super friendly and I feel very welcomed here.”
Carbone declared as a biology major and is looking forward to starting classes next week.
“I’m really excited to start,” Carbone said. “I get the opportunity to study something that I actually want to learn about, compared to the required classes in high school that I didn’t enjoy as much.”
Back to volleyball. When asked to differentiate high school and college competition, Carbone talked about speed and power.
“I’ve been working really hard to improve and adjust my skills to a faster pace. The major difference between high school and college is the speed of the game and the power,” Carbone said. “I’m learning to adjust how I’m setting so it accommodates to the style of the game. I’m learning every day and my coach has encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and to try new techniques, reminding me that adjusting to the college level is a process and won’t happen overnight.”
Carbone praised her new coach, Karen McNulty, who’s pushing her out of her “comfort zone” to become a better player.
“I think she’s very understanding that I’m still a freshman coming in, but she’s giving me the opportunities that everyone else has,” Carbone said. “I think she’s very intelligent in how she focuses her practices. She’s very good at pinpointing our flaws and knows great ways to improve them.”
Carbone has also been working on balancing school and sports.
“It’s going to be a lot of learning how to manage my time properly between my practices, having a social life, but also studying to make sure I have enough time to do work for my classes,” Carbone said. “I wasn’t the best with time management in high school, so I’m looking forward to improving that in college. I feel that my education is more valuable now that I’m studying something that I value and what I want to do in the future.”
Carbone was thankful for her experience under Lynnfield coach Brent Ashley.
“At Lynnfield, my coach was very hard on us. He did it because he cared and he made us really good athletes,” Carbone said. “He made us able to adjust very quickly to the game and he made us intelligent in game-like situations. He taught me everything that I know about the game and I think he’s done a phenomenal job. I miss him and wish I could play with him again, but it’s a new beginning and I’m looking forward to seeing how I develop under my new coach.”
Carbone’s first collegiate games are Saturday when Salem State takes on Old Westbury and Albertus Magnus.
“I’m wicked nervous, but I’m so excited to see how far we’ve come as a team over the last two weeks,” Carbone said. “We’ve bonded and have been working hard together, and I think we can really prove ourselves this year.”
