The game of volleyball came to Mia Abely rather a little later in her athletic upbringing. Though she has more than made up for lost time by diving into the community of the sport and becoming a defensive stalwart and consummate leader for the East Haven volleyball team.

The East Haven senior took her shot at several sports when she was younger, including soccer, dance, and cheerleading. But nothing stuck for her until around her eighth grade year, when she discovered volleyball during the pandemic. Despite being quarantined on a couple of occasions during that year, she stuck with it and played for the Yellowjackets JV squad her freshman and sophomore years. After working her way up to varsity as a junior, she is now a middle blocker and captain for East Haven this year, as the squad has gotten out to a 2-3 start.

“What has stood out to me for volleyball has been the people; all the girls are great, and the friendships have really built up. I also watched the sport through various forms of media and saw how big the sport was,” says Mia. “I like hitting the ball a lot because it helps relieve stress. I get to get that anger and angst out by hitting the ball, too.”

Being in the center of the action, Mia is unable to take a point off, though the competitor in her loves the grind. She explains the position is a give and take when it comes to her mobility–she is constantly lateralling across the court while not having to constantly shuffle her vantage point on the floor.

“As a middle blocker, I love always being on the court. It is also a good chance to work on my jumping and hitting,” Mia says. “You are constantly going left and right, and so there's a lot of back and forth. But I stay in one space, so it is not as stressful. I do sort of get a break as well, with no rotation, which is nice.”

In a match with so many sets, moves, and maneuvers, no one will ever play a perfect game. Mia holds that truth close to her heart and imparts it upon her teammates, and she shares that in such a fast-moving sport, there is no time to dwell on a miscue. One just has to learn from it swiftly and move on.

“Volleyball is certainly a game of mistakes,” says Mia. “So I tell myself and I tell the others to just shake it off when it comes to any mistake. Everyone isn’t perfect, so I use that to try to get over the mental block that doing things wrong and making mistakes is okay. I just learned from the mistakes to improve and move onto the next point.”

Mia details that she can certainly get up top to the net and bring the heat to deny her opponents critical tallies. But still, being a middle blocker does not always involve facilitating the ball, so Mia looks to craft her ability to distribute.

“I have gotten a lot better at my blocking. I have also improved on my height difference and blocking the ball,” Mia says. “I need to work on my passing game because as a middle blocker, I do not get a chance to pass the ball a lot.”

Taking on a leadership role for a team can be stressful alone, much less being the lone leader on the team. Yet for this fall, Mia is a true professional and takes it all in stride. She also preaches unity within the squad in order to accomplish what they all desire the most in a return to the postseason.

“Being a solo captain is stressful, but my friends have been there to help me out along the way,” says Mia. “Our goal as a team is to make states. It is our main goal because we have not been there in the time I have been here. We are all in this together, and we just have to all respect each other.”

East Haven volleyball Head Coach Craig Brown explains that Mia has the most varsity reps under her belt on the 2024 roster. So with that experience, the Yellowjackets will look to her to develop her proficiency on both sides of the ball and use her motivational skills to push the girls back to states.

“As a player this year, we are pushing for her to be one of our top contributors on offense out of the middle, and more importantly on defense with her blocking. As a returning starter having played each varsity match last season, we are looking to Mia to take another step forward as a contributor,” says Brown. “Her openness with her teammates and approachable personality allow her to become a capable captain. Her will to win on the court will also help push her teammates and this East Haven team back into the competitive nature, and push us towards competing for playoffs once again.”

Mia also enjoys the camaradie aspect of the team, and the fact that the entire roster at all levels and grades of the program has bought into what the Yellowjackets are trying to accomplish. They have all dedicated their entire summer down time to upping their skills in order to help East Haven move forward.

“We have a lot of underclassmen who did some offseason work on their game with camps and clinics,” Mia says. “The underclassmen have also worked hard on their game in the offseason, so that has helped us so far, and I think it will be big for us this year.”