We’re proud to be a part of an ongoing partnership with Dick’s Sporting Goods, which is sponsoring our Player of the Week award. We’ll be releasing a featured Vballrecruiter.com Player of the Week, sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods, on Tuesdays. Below is this week’s Player of the Week: Lowe Long.

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In a roundabout way, Lowe Long danced her way into volleyball. Growing up, our latest Player of the Week performed ballet before getting into competitive dancing. Those competitions took Long – a 3-star recruit from the Class of 2028 – on the road, where she sometimes ended up performing in the same venues that happened to be hosting volleyball tournaments.

“We would be on breaks and would just be walking around,” Long said. “We would watch volleyball sometimes. My mom asked me one time if it ever interested me. I have four generations of volleyball in my family. My great grandpa, my aunts, my cousins and brother all played. There’s a history in my family. Watching it, it seemed interesting.”

After years of dancing, Long decided to move on. She joined Tri-State Elite for her 11s season. At that time, she was one of the tallest on the team so she naturally started off as a middle blocker. She eventually switched to being a pin. She is currently an outside hitter on Tri-State Elite 14 Blue.

One element of volleyball that drew her to the sport was the team atmosphere. She loved watching how excited everyone seemed to be and all the celebrating.

“It sounds cheesy, but it’s in my blood,” she said. “It seemed like something I should be doing. It interested me a lot.”

Moving on from dance to volleyball was an easy decision for Long. During Covid, she was forced to do Zoom calls and practice dancing in her kitchen.

“It wasn’t working for me,” she said. “I wasn’t looking forward to the Zoom calls or driving to dance anymore. I said goodbye to it and never thought about it again. Plus, having to do all the makeup and my hair, it was all getting on my nerves, so it was like ‘Okay, we are done.’”

To date, Tri-State Elite 14 Blue has had two Mideast Power League weekends, as well as competing at both Central Zone and Triple Crown. The team finished ninth at the former and 51st at the latter. It was the first time Long had competed at the prestigious Triple Crown event.

“I heard many things about it,” she said. “It was so cool. There were a lot of college coaches and you are there turning around and seeing them watching. I also saw friends I made at The Red Hat Games and got to watch them play. It was also fun to see teams from other states I haven’t seen before.”

The season continues on this coming weekend for Tri-State Elite 14 Blue with Bluegrass in Louisville. As for life outside of volleyball, living in Ohio one extracurricular activity that seems unlikely to get involved in is surfing. However, her parents used to live in California and her dad would surf with his friends in Los Angeles. Long said it seemed like a fun thing to learn so on family vacations it was something her and her twin brother tried.

“We caught onto it very quickly,” she said. “It’s something I can do in another state that I can’t do in Ohio. When we travel to California and Florida we go surfing. It’s very fun for my brother and I.”

As our featured Player of the Week sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods, we recently spoke with Long about volleyball and more.

Who is a role model or someone you look up to?

Long: I look up to my parents because they set a great example. They teach me all I need to know about life and help me through anything I need help with. My grandparents are also big role models. They have a lot of experiences and they help me so much too. They are very supportive of my choices I make in life.

If you could choose to do anything for a day, what would you do and why?

Long: I would probably want to go to Hawaii and go to see all the beaches. I would love to go see the mountains and all the different plants. I would love seeing all the cool places that we don’t have in Ohio.

Other than volleyball, what skill would you most like to learn and why?

Long: I would want to get good at cooking because it’s something you can share your love for someone else is by cooking a nice meal. Or learning how to bake pastries and stuff like that. It seems fun.

Do you have any volleyball superstitions or rituals and if so what?

Long: When I’m up at the net, I either have a Kendra Scott necklace or a necklace with an L and it has to be in the center and even on both sides. My jersey needs to fit right and I tighten my ponytail. I always have these two tiny pieces of hair that have to be in the front of my ear and I touch my earrings. All when I’m up at the net.

Aside from basic necessities, what is one thing you could not go a day without?

Long: It’s my family because they are my emotional, mental and physical support and back up when you need them. They help me get through the day.

What is one thing that instantly makes your day better or makes you smile?

Long: Getting to see my friends at school and talking with everyone and catching up with everyone what they did last night or talking about stuff we want to do in the future.

What’s one of your favorite ways to have fun?

Long: I love spending time with my friends and going to the park or just hanging out with them at someone’s house.

Outside of volleyball what are you most passionate about and why?

Long: I feel pretty passionate about my artistic skills and knowing how to build things. I like learning new stuff in school and making sure I learn everything I need to know and keeping my grades up to make sure I’m good academically.

What is one thing that may surprise people about you?

Long: I’m a twin. Also a random fact is I know five people in my grade who all have the same birthday.

If you could live anywhere you wanted, where would it be and why?

Long: It would be Malibu. It’s not quite a home away from home but I have been there so much I know all the little places. It’s a place to go surfing and that is something that really interests me, plus all the warm weather.

What’s your favorite food or foods?

Long: I love sushi. I have loved it forever. I’ve been eating it since I was really little. I’m really good with chopsticks. I got obsessed with them when I was little.

What’s your favorite number and why?

Long: It’s number 11. It was a kind of the little things that stuck out to me. In primary school we had numbers on our backpack or seating charts and mine was always 11 or 15, but mostly 11. I like it because it’s two 1s for balance. To me it seems like my lucky number. I’ve had it since my 11s year. My sign is Libra, which is balance, so it’s like putting the puzzle pieces together. It seemed right.