It’s like she’s been preparing for this season all her life.Whitney Cogburn, setter and right side hitter for the ETSU volleyball team, is entering the final year of her college career.

“It’s really sad to think about,” Cogburn said. “After playing volleyball for so long, I don’t really know what I’m going to do.”

Cogburn’s journey started in second grade in Kingsport, Tenn. While growing up, she had plenty of athletic family members around to set an example for her.

“I had two older cousins that played at [Sullivan] South High. I grew up around them and they were always into sports,” Cogburn said. “The older one went on to play in college and they both got to go to state [championships] in high school so I’ve pretty much followed in their footsteps.”

However, Cogburn was attracting college coaches even before high school.

“[Whitney] came to our middle school tournament . in eighth grade,” said ETSU volleyball head coach Lindsey Devine. “I heard through different coaches about a girl from Colonial Heights that was tall, lean, strong and very passionate about volleyball. When I saw her at our school she was exactly as they described her.”

After high school, she was ETSU-bound. Since it was close to her home, she was never going to go anywhere else she said.

“I’m a family person,” said Cogburn with a smile. “I like being close. I like being able to go home if I want to. When I was shown around campus, [I saw] they had a really good education program which is what I wanted to do. They have a really good volleyball program [as well]. This is where I wanted to be.”

Once she got to college, Cogburn learned that she would have to adjust to college-level volleyball.

“Compared to high school it’s much more fast-paced,” she said. “All the girls are just as good as you, they’re all big, and they’re all athletic. Some of them have been playing for three years and coming in as a freshman . it’s really hard.”

Hard or not, she adapted. As a freshman, Cogburn appeared in 25 matches. She finished the season with 308 assists and was named to the Atlantic Sun All-Academic team.

Her sophomore year, she started in 31 matches, totaled 455 assists, had a triple-double against Stetson (13 kills, 18 assists and 15 digs), and went 16 straight games with double-digit assists. “Her growth is immense,” Devine said. “From her physical stature to her understanding of the game to her court presence to her leadership, she has grown in every area possible. A senior now, I hope [she] will be able to come back to talk to future volleyball players.”

Despite the fact that she’s played for several years, Cogburn is still nervous before a match.

“I always get nervous, really jittery and excited,” Cogburn said. “The energy of the crowd is always really cool.”

Cogburn will take her experience to its fullest potential this year as she and her squad try to take the Atlantic Sun Conference by storm. They return to Johnson City the weekend of Oct. 8 to take on conference opponents Belmont and Lipscomb.

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