« Volleyball 2010

Mary Ashley Tippins

School
Georgia Tech
Position
Setter
Major
Management
K
52
Pct
.328
SA
9
BS
1
BA
29
D
175

Classroom

Mary Ashley Tippins is a management major focusing on marketing. She will graduate in December 2011.

Character

Tippins has grown up with the game and was always the younger one on teams and had to step up as a leader since the setter touches every ball that comes over the net. It was very intimidating for her being a freshman in high school and in college to demand the best out of juniors and seniors. Her mom has been battling cancer for about 14 years now, and when she was younger she never really understood how serious her illness was, but during Tippins’ freshman year in college, her mother had a re-occurence of cancer in her brain.  Her mom’s cancer hit her and her family hard.  The only place she found happiness and relief was on the volleyball court and her teammates were there for her and had her back through everything, so she then embraced her position to her full potential.

Community

Tippins has helped out in the community by doing soup kitchens, Habitat for Humanity and playing with under-priveliged kids since high school.  When she came to Georgia Tech, she got involved with some more service and her particular favorite one is working the Special Olympics. She helps out with the opening ceremonies and the people she meets are so incredible and have such positive and optimistic attitudes.  It truly inspires her to appreciate all aspects in life and to enjoy every moment. She has also been greatly involved with the volleyball community in Atlanta.  She has helped out her old club in coaching the 16-year-old age group the past three years. She also helps with another program called Volley Performance which is run by Bob Westbrook. Helping girls improve their volleyball game is a true passion of hers and she hopes to continue that for many years.

Competition

As a junior, Tippins was a 2009 AVCA honorable mention All-American, 2009 AVCA All-Region and 2009 All-ACC. She started all 31 matches and played in every set on the season. She led the team and ACC and was 20th in the nation averaging 11.27 assists per set. Her 36 service aces (0.31/set) were also first on the team and seventh in the ACC.