One of the finest volleyball players ETSU has seen come through its program will begin her third and final home season Sunday when the Bucs open their Brooks Gym slate against Georgia Southern at 2 p.m.
Setter Carey Cavanaugh, a senior transfer from Ohio State, has garnered two All-Southern Conference selections in her tenure and is well on her way to a third such honor for the 4-1 Bucs.
In her first four games this year, Cavanaugh racked up three triple-doubles, helping the Bucs win the season-opening Winthrop Tournament in South Carolina. For her efforts, Cavanaugh was tournament MVP.
“I thought she had a very good tournament,” said new head coach Deane Webb .
“The setter’s main job is to make the rest of the team look good,” he said of her on-court position. That statement reverberates outside the lines, as well.
Despite every reason to demand the klieg lights, Cavanaugh is reluctant to be singled out from her teammates.
She also points to the merits of her new coach.
“I give him a lot of credit for our ball-handling,” she said.
Webb shares that sentiment of team over individual, even in the case of remarkable individual achievement.
Rather than watch Cavanaugh pile up statistics for triple doubles as the Bucs are stretched to five games in a match, Webb wants to see the team dominate.
“Personally, I’d just as soon beat people in three,” he said.
Still, Webb is quick to praise the senior, not only for her standout performances on paper, but for the leadership she characterizes as a “lead-by-example” style.
“I think I’ve always had a leadership role on this team because of the way I grew up,” she said. On the court in her youth, “My parents would just encourage me all the time.”
Indeed, all of this experience is fresh on Cavanaugh’s mind. Her first exposure to the game was on the sidelines of her parents’ recreational matches, but she didn’t start playing competitively herself until the eighth grade.
Volleyball and Cavanaugh have become fast friends. Her parents have set up a full volleyball court in their Ohio backyard to help hone the game of the girl that once watched theirs.
When she is away from home, however, she counts most on Bucs’ assistant coach Shannon Mincey.
Without the fourth-year assistant, Cavanaugh said, “I wouldn’t be here.”
Cavanaugh credits Mincey for guiding her not only in volleyball, but in school and life in general.
Mincey was present for the game Cavanaugh counts as her most memorable.
“The thing that sticks out in my mind is our match against Davidson last year,” Cavanaugh said.
That Oct. 7 clash gave ETSU a five-game win over the Wildcat team that would go on to defend its Southern Conference title.
Contrarily, perhaps the low point came three years ago, when, still at Ohio State, doctors told her that because of a serious back condition, she would no longer be able to play for the Buckeyes.
However, she received a second opinion, and ETSU cleared her to play.
Now, taking full advantage of the opportunity, she is at the top of her game.
Yet, faced with the possibility that every match may be her last, she has no fear of injury.
“I don’t prepare,” Cavanaugh said, for such a contingency. “I never slow down. I just go out and play.”
Even without injury, her playing days are numbered in this, her final year of eligibility.
She has designs, however, on continuing in the game in a coaching capacity.
“I would love to pass on the knowledge of the game,” she said.
Those aren’t her only plans. Cavanaugh is also engaged.
“I can’t wait to get married,” she said.
Indubitably, the rest of the Southern Conference is eager for the wedding date, set for the end of the year – after volleyball is done, to come, too.
NOTE: Tuesday’s match with UNC Asheville was cancelled, with no make up date available at press time. The Lady Bucs next play host to Georgia Southern on Sept. 16 at 2 p.m at Brooks Gym for their first home game of the season.

Author