Murphy – Since she started playing club volleyball at A5 Volleyball Club near Atlanta, Murphy senior Cailey Dockery has watched “commitment night.” It’s an event that honors the program’s seniors, and announces where they will be heading to college.
This year, Dockery went from spectator to participant, recently signing her national letter of intent to play volleyball and continue her education at the University of Notre Dame.
“I’ve been watching them do this since I was 11 years old,” Dockery said. “So to finally be a senior, and to do the same other thing all other club alumni have done, was extremely exciting and surreal.”
In South Bend, Dockery plans to major in neuroscience and eventually get on the pre-physical therapy or pre-health track.
“I had to remember as I was going through the process that my reason for going to college was to get a good education,” Dockery said. “And to have the opportunity to play at a high level with a great education was an opportunity too good to pass up.”
Incidentally, Dockery committing to Notre Dame is what led her to Murphy. She committed to the Fighting Irish the summer before her junior year, and had been homeschooled for all her education. Her SAT and ACT scores were both “pretty good,” Dockery said, but Notre
ame wanted to see how she would fare in a more traditional academic environment.
On the court, Dockery was the Lady Bulldogs’ defensive backbone. Her 443 digs were first on the team by a wide margin, and she helped keep things steady in the back row as Murphy’s defense improved from the glaring weakness it was at the beginning of the season.
Though hitters usually get all the glory in volleyball, the Lady Bulldogs wouldn’t have advanced to the Final Four for the first time since 2011 without her.
Dockery enjoyed her two years playing volleyball at Murphy, especially the tight bond and chemistry of this year’s team. However, the thing she enjoyed most was the student sections.
“With club ball you don’t really have a cheering section other than your parents,” she said. “So going to high school gyms, even if it’s the opponent section, just seeing that much passion even if they don’t know what’s completely going on, seeing everybody hyped and ready to cheer was so amazing, and so cool.”
Dockery will play one final club season with A5 before heading to Notre Dame in August.
She wasn’t the only Murphy High senior to sign her NLI on Nov. 10, as volleyball teammate Torin Rogers signed to play basketball at the University of Richmond. Rogers is planning to have a public ceremony at Murphy High School in the near future.