When Avery Vece quit gymnastics, all she ever knew was long practices, living in different colored leotards, and body aches. That’s when she found volleyball the summer going into high school and hasn’t looked back since.
As a kid, Vece remembers walking on her hands more than her feet, and being the most flexible person in her family. Vece did gymnastics her whole life, she competed in all levels, from starting level 1 to when she decided to quit level 5 at two different companies. Gymnastics was a huge part of Vece’s life from age three to 12. The sport required long days, and long hours. Routinely she could be found from 4:00 to 8:00PM in the gym every weeknight, until 7th grade when she began to feel like she was running her body into the ground, but then as she was trying to find a sport she was passionate about she saved her athletic career when she touched the volleyball court.
“I found that I was just not interested in the sport as much anymore when we shut down from COVID-19, and it was hard to have the connection with the regulations we had from the pandemic,” said Vece.
Morgan offers a volleyball summer camp for a whole week in August from 8 to 12:00PM for various ages, led by head volleyball coach Jessica Lynch and the current Morgan upperclassmen volleyball players. “Once I heard about the summer camp offered, I immediately signed up, and it gave me a good gist on the team as well as what I would be walking into while being a part of the team,” said Vece. She thought that the summer camp was very helpful as she was new to the sport and the upperclassmen did support her, so that made her feel less nervous for the actual season.
After her first season playing at Morgan, she joined a club team “Pure Passion” that she played her sophomore and junior year. Other teammates, that were Veces’ friends in her grade, such as Karla Duque and Payton Corgan played on the team with her as well. “Joining this club changed my mindset of the game, and I learned more about the game while becoming more skilled in my position of being a setter,” Vece elaborated.
Vece also felt a connection back to her gymnastics days of having mental blocks while playing volleyball. Vece faced a few setbacks during her junior year season not knowing where she stood on the team because of how many upperclassmen there were, but she kept putting her best foot forward to not let that affect how much she enjoyed the sport itself. “Volleyball is a very mental game, and I persevered a lot throughout the club season which made me stronger not only then playing for school volleyball but as an athlete,” said Vece.
The setter position can either make or break a team’s success, so being a setter can determine how everyone else plays, Vece said. “Most of the time, if I have a bad game everyone else does too, and if I have a good game, everyone else does too, so facing hardships made not only me stronger, but everyone else as well,” said Vece.
A hardship Vece and her team ran into during this season was consistency throughout sets during hard games. “We would have a fantastic set and then a not so good set afterward so that made us play catch up” said Vece. Vece took a lot of control over leading the team through these setbacks during the game and brought a lot of encouragement to keep her teammates heads up.
“I wouldn’t have been as independent and mentally strong without the help of gymnastics,” Vece believes. Gymnastics taught her independence based on the scores she received on her events. Vece pointed out that gymnastics was such an independent sport that she grew to rely on no one but herself, and carried that skill into volleyball. That played a huge role this 2025-2026 volleyball season when she was named senior captain.
A junior player on the team, Gretchen Guelke found Vece to be a very “encouraging captain on and off the court and always found a way to lighten the mood.”
The 2025-2026 season closed with an 11-9 record, facing some team challenges like finishing a close game in three sets. Morgan faced Valley twice during the regular season, resulting in a 0–3 loss both times. The second time Morgan played Valley, they adjusted their play from the first time by capitalizing on their strengths a lot more rather than falling back on their weaknesses throughout the game. The girls did make the shoreline and state post-season tournament but lost early in the run due to facing some bigger schools.
“I think this year my team and I were very successful, and I feel successful knowing how good our chemistry was that we built throughout the season,” said Vece. She has always wanted to go far with her team, post regular season, and so moving on past the first round of states was big for her. Not only did she make it far with her team but ended the regular season with a winning record that hasn’t happened in years.
The biggest inspiration for her was the upperclassmen during her first ever season as a freshman. She looked up to them on and off the court and took every piece of their advice they had to give so that she could grow into a volleyball player she wished to become. “Those girls felt more like a friend, which is uncommon because of the year gap, but I got close with them quickly, which shaped the team well,” said Vece.
She knew early on that her and her teammates in her grade were the future of the program, so she wanted to make sure to carry their legacy. At home, Vece’s parents supported her and kept her motivated in every step she took. “My parents made sure to tell me my strengths and weaknesses after every game,” said Vece. This caused Vece to keep growing and taught her self belief, and she could not be more thankful for their advice.
