BLACKSVILLE — On Tuesday, Isabel Lapoe from Clay-Battelle High School signed her letter of intent to play volleyball at Mid-Atlantic Christian University in Elizabeth City, N.C.
For Lapoe, MACU checked all of the boxes when it came to choosing where she would attend college. Then, when the opportunity arose for her to continue playing volleyball, she knew she had found her home away from home.
“So from the beginning I looked more toward the Christian campuses,” Lapoe said of her recruiting process. “I had a few reach out but MACU really hit home for me. I want to be able to go out and experience things on my own but still be close to my family. It’s about a seven-hour drive, so while I’m away from home, it’s still within a day’s drive.”
Lapoe says she plans to enter as a pre-law student at MACU and the school fit right in with everything she was looking for.
“It is a smaller campus, I believe the student-to-teacher ratio is 13 to 1, so that’s important that I’ll be able to have those one-on-one relationships with my teachers,” she said. “Sometimes pre-law can be one of the more difficult areas, so I wanted to make sure that my education was personalized to me.”
“It’s amazing being able to play volleyball and have the ideal education at the same time,” Isabel said. “I started out my senior year a little rough so I was worried about how that would affect me being able to play at the next level. I’ve been playing volleyball my entire life so it was really nice to see that there were places willing to accept players who may have not had the strongest senior season.”
Lapoe has been a student at C-B since the sixth grade and has always been a part of the volleyball program. With multiple appearances in sectionals and regionals, including a few sectional titles, she has been a key contributor to the success of the team.
Isabel becomes the fourth athlete from C-B to sign to play in college this year, with more to come.
“I’m so thankful to have the opportunity to get my name out there,” she said. “Clay-Battelle has had a great year athletically and I’m excited to see where they go from this point forward. I actually started the C-B pep club this year. It’s really taken off here and that’s been really exciting.”
Lapoe will graduate from C-B this May and go on to MACU in the fall.
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