After the Whistle: Sussex Central’s Paige Nicholson
GEORGETOWN, Del. – Sussex Central girl’s volleyball has been making noise in the Henlopen this season.
The Golden Knights have been spurred on offensively by sophomore Paige Nicholson. “I think I’m a good leader, and I think I can encourage people to have more energy and be more comfortable with ourselves,” Nicholson said, “I think I pride myself on being a good leader.”
Still an underclassman, Nicholson always felt ready to take initiative and shoulder a major role on her team, an attitude that could partially attributed to her parents coaching and coming from volleyball backgrounds, and partially chalked up to her natural disposition.
“When I started playing volleyball, I would help coach the other girls. And I felt like I’ve kind of always knew I was a leader. And my dad always tells me I’m a natural born leader, so, I kind of believe him.”
As a freshman in 2024 during her first high school season, Nicholson was an offensive force, leading the Golden Knights with 171 kills in 15 games. Her total was more than the next five on the team, an output that she surprised even herslef with: “I was, like, pretty shocked. I felt like I knew deep down I could do it, but when I saw the stats, I was like, ‘Wow.’ I was like, ‘I did do that,’ and I was proud of myself.”
With already 151 kills through 10 games this year, Nicholson doesn’t see why she couldn’t continue elevating her game for the rest of her career.“I’m trying to average out like 18 to 20 kills per game…I want to hit a thousand kills towards the end of my volleyball career in high school”
On a young Sussex Central team getting crucial contributions from underclassmen, Nicholson thinks it’s clear that the future is bright for the nights in Georgetown.
“My senior year, I think it’s going to be–I think we’re all going to be stronger, and we have more girls coming up. I think we’re so young already. I think we’ll grow as a team together, and it’ll be really nice to see how far we go. I have a lot of hope in us.”
