Volleyball honors piling up for talented Ambridge sophomore

Lee Smith was voted to the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association Class AA Finest 40 All-State Team last season as a freshman.

Smith is expected to receive the same honor at the conclusion of this season, and will likely be recognized two more times before graduating from Ambridge Area High School in 2014.

But that accomplishment will have to take a back seat to the honor Smith received last Thursday.

"Lee was one of 12 players chosen for the 2012 U.S. Boys' Youth National Volleyball Team," Ambridge coach Glenn Freed said. "That means he will be playing with the best players in the country in his age bracket. That's quite an honor."

The Youth National Team was selected through high performance tryouts held across the country. The team will compete at the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation Boys' Under-19 Continental Championship, from June 31 to July 7, in Tijuana, Mexico. The top two teams at the NORCECA Championship will qualify for the 2013 FIVB Boys' Youth World Championship.

"I was so pumped up to find out I had been chosen as one of the 12 players," Smith said. "It will be a great experience to play with the best players in the country. I will also be attending a training camp [at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.] for one week prior to the trip to Mexico."

Smith, a 6-foot-4 sophomore outside hitter, was first introduced to the sport in fourth grade, when he went to watch his sister, Erin, play on Ambridge's elementary team.

"Lee and a classmate asked to come to a few of our practices when he was in sixth grade," said Freed, who has also served as the Bridgers junior high coach for 13 years.

"The following year, he came out for the junior high team. It didn't take long to see that he had a lot of athletic ability and the potential to be very good."

Smith spent two years on the junior high team before moving up to the varsity as a freshman.

"We had an opening on the outside, due to a graduation loss, and Lee stepped right in," Freed said. "He's one of the best athletes I've ever coached. In fact, he has a chance to accomplish more in his career than Nick Goodell, and that says a lot."

Goodell just completed his redshirt freshman season at Penn State and ranked second on the nationally ranked Nittany Lions squad in kills.

"Lee Smith is one of the best young players in the WPIAL," said Goodell, showing his Bridgers pride. "I've been talking with coach Pavlik about recruiting him."

As a sophomore, Smith has plenty of time to consider his future at the collegiate level, but has considered the possibility of following Goodell to Happy Valley.

"I've talked and traded texts with Nick," Smith said. "I even made an unofficial visit to Penn State, but it's much too early to be thinking about recruiting. It will be interesting to see what my options are after playing on the Youth National Team. I'll just have to wait and see."

Smith comes from a volleyball family. His cousins, Nikki and Justin Otto, played at North Allegheny.

"Nikki played at Stanford and Justin was a walk-on at Penn State," Smith said.

Smith also plays club ball for Beaver Valley Premier, a team coached by Freed.

"Lee has become a year-round volleyball player," Freed said. "He even stopped playing basketball. His love is volleyball."

"This is the first year I didn't play basketball," Smith said. "It was tough, because I had been playing since I was little boy."

The decision allowed Smith to concentrate on volleyball.

"I would have never had this opportunity [to play on the Youth National Team] if I was still playing basketball," Smith said. "So my decision has benefitted me."

Smith and his Bridgers teammates will have a chance to claim a WPIAL Class AA title tomorrow at Chartiers Valley High School at 6 p.m.

Ambridge earned its seventh title appearance in 11 years with Tuesday's 3-0 win against Montour as Smith registered 17 kills.

The Bridgers will face Derry Area, a 3-1 winner against defending champion Deer Lakes in the other semifinal.

"It's nice to think about what I will be doing over the summer, but winning a WPIAL title and getting back to the PIAA tournament is my main focus now," Smith said.

(Photo: Ambridge's Lee Smith blasts a shot past a Central York blocker. Photo by J.J. LaBella for Tri-State Sports & News Service.)