Sometimes even the best of athletes have to wait their turn.

Morgan Sherwin, a 2017 Parkland High School graduate, saw plenty of action on the volleyball court as an underclassman. But it wasn’t until last fall that she really broke out and produced at a high level after playing behind a couple of All-District and All-State players as a junior.

With her success on the court and on the track, Sherwin has been named the Parkland Press Female Athlete of the Year.

Volleyball has always been the favorite sport for Sherwin, who also grew up playing soccer in grade school before competing in the high jump while at Parkland. But the passion and drive to succeed led her to give up soccer to focus on volleyball.

“Volleyball is definitely my first love as a sport,” said Sherwin. “I played soccer for six years and gave that up to start playing volleyball, and it was a definitely a good choice because I fell in love with it. I first started playing in fifth grade at Parkland’s Red Crush camp, and played on the middle school team once I was able to in seventh grade.

“Since then I’ve played year-round on club teams and outdoor tournaments, and then got called up to the varsity team freshman year.”

As a sophomore and junior, Sherwin was on the outside of the court, primarily used as an outside hitter. Her and classmate Sam Graver would rotate during the rallies.

Once senior year came, Sherwin was asked to take over the role of setter, which was occupied for three straight years by All-American Kristin Krause. She stepped in and flourished.

Sherwin tallied 1,040 assists last fall while adding 189 kills. Defensively, she made 91 blocks and grabbed 195 digs for a Trojans team that placed second in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and won District 11 gold before making it to the state championship match.

“It meant a lot to all of us on the team winning districts because nobody had expected us to do very well after graduating the five seniors the year before,” Sherwin said. “Everyone worked extremely hard to fill the spots of the previous group of seniors and get back to district finals and to make the state tournament. We lost in the EPC finals to Liberty, which we were all disappointed about, but it gave us the extra motivation to beat them in the district finals.

“Once we won districts, all of us on the team knew we had a good shot at making a long state run. We pretty much shocked a ton of people by making it that far. It meant a lot to everyone on the team and especially the four seniors that we were able to make it back to state finals.”

This past spring, Sherwin finished second at the district meet (just shy of taking first), and placed third at the state meet at Shippensburg University.

Track isn’t just a hobby, it is a sport that she uses to get better.

“Track was able to play a big role in training for volleyball because track was a lot of jump training,” said Sherwin. “Training for high jump in track was able to help increase my vertical jump and jump higher, which is extremely beneficial for volleyball. My vertical for volleyball went up quite a few inches because of coach Robertson’s training during track season.”

Her talent and success on the volleyball court did not go unnoticed. Several college coaches were recruiting Sherwin to play on their team, but there was one that stuck out from the beginning, and was there until the end.

“I knew I wanted to go to Quinnipiac from the very first time I stepped on the campus,” Sherwin said. “I remember driving onto campus and I knew it’s where I was going to go to college. I loved the campus and the fact that their volleyball team was an up and coming program. It was the perfect school for me. I was looking at a couple other schools at the time but ultimately wanted to go to Quinnipiac since the very beginning.”

Sherwin will be majoring in psychology, studying to become a sports psychologist. One thing is for sure: her last four years have helped her be ready for this time.

“It means a lot to be a student-athlete at Parkland,” Sherwin said. “There is a lot of pride that comes with wearing a Parkland uniform, and it’s not easy being a student-athlete. Parkland volleyball is one of the best high school programs, so the training is at a higher level and adding the high demand of academics has taught me a lot about time management and how to do well in school as well as in athletics, which is very important for college.

“Coach Krause pushes everyone to be the best player they can possibly be and teaches you to have the mental toughness needed for the next level, so I without a doubt feel prepared both academically and athletically.”