Tennis: Despite her success with a racket, volleyball still first love for Wexel

VIRGINIA BEACH 

A towel covered Abbey Wexel’s face while she wiped away the tears. 

After finishing four games shy of a state doubles title with her childhood buddy Shannon Rogers, a disappointed Wexel made an announcement:

“I’m not playing next year.” 

A junior at Cox High School at the time, Wexel insisted she was serious. 

And anybody who knows her knows this: Wexel will trade a tennis match in favor of volleyball practice any time. 

A year later , Wexel is back on court – the tennis court, that is. There’s no doubt volleyball is her first love, and that future is secure with Wexel having signed with Division I Albany. But for now she’s winding down what has been a spectacular tennis career as twice a member of Cox’s state championship teams.

The Falcons have won another  Eastern Region title, something they've  done all four years Wexel has been part of the team. The host a state quarterfinal game Tuesday.

“I was very adamant about not playing until a week before tryouts,” Wexel said. “Then I thought I missed them.” 

Much to the chagrin of coaches, high school tennis is full of athletes who put down their rackets the day their season ends in the spring and don’t pick them up again until it’s time for tryouts a year later. But at Cox, that kind of player is a rarity. There’s a reason the Falcons have dominated the region for nearly a decade, sending a healthy number of players to Division I college programs – they play year-round, many on the USTA circuit. 

Then there’s Wexel – a steady No. 3 singles player who is more adept at doubles, teaming with Rogers to win the region and coming achingly close to a state title last spring. Two years ago Wexel eked out critical victories in singles and doubles in the state final victory against Mills Godwin. 

“She’s really athletic,” Falcons coach George Schwenk said. “We know how good she could be, but volleyball has always come first with her.” Wexel concedes she’s raw during the early part of season, struggling to regain her timing. But it doesn’t take her long to find the consistency and the quick hands that can make her a menace at the net. 

As a youngster she was a regular tennis player, and she tried camps in dance and gymnastics, too. Her father tells of Wexel driving golf balls some 200 yards in her early teen years. What she wasn’t interested in was volleyball, almost indignant to try the sport until her mother urged her to sign up for one camp. 

It was a perfect fit. 

“It was weird how stubborn I was about it,” Wexel said. “I love team sports. I love being on the court with everybody. I love that volleyball is so fast and loud and aggressive.’’ 

Quickly, volleyball took over her free time, with club ball leading to tournaments everywhere from Texas to Minnesota to Utah. 

Nothing she has done in high school quite compares to the rush she felt when her undersized Coastal club team upset Long Beach, considered the top team in the nation, in a tournament in Dallas last year. 

“It was really an unbelievable feeling,” Wexel said. “It wasn’t expected at all. It was an accomplishment nobody thought we would accomplish.” 

She plans to be an elementary school teacher or an orthodontist like her father. Having college in place at Albany is something of a relief given Wexel grew tired of receiving replies from coaches who admired her skills at setter but were wary of her size. 

“I’m 5-6 on a good day,” said Wexel, lamenting that her sixth-grade sister is already up to her eyebrows. “My grandparents are tall, too. I didn’t get those genes.” 

Albany coach M.J. Engstrom considered Wexel’s size and dismissed it as a concern. 

“Some of the top teams have very small setters, and we’re a very good ball-control team,” she said. “Abbey is a hard worker with a great attitude, and you don’t get those two together very often. The kid seems to understand the game.” 

The tennis postseason will keep Wexel busy a few weeks longer, something that pleases Engstrom, who said the footwork tennis requires can make her a better volleyball player. Then Wexel can pack away the racket for as long as she likes, though she said her parents probably will encourage her to continue playing for fun. 

“They say tennis is a life sport,” she said. “But I’d rather go out in the driveway with my sister and hit the volleyball around. 

“I’d rather play volleyball than tennis any day.”