Penrod credited for Mercer volleyball success

According to Mercer volleyball head coach Damian Elder, senior Tori Penrod has turned around the Bears’ program around in her time at Mercer.

“I credit her entirely with if there’s been any change in the volleyball program from the time that she started until now. It’s been a lot of her and a little bit of me,” Elder said.

When Penrod started as a freshman in 2013, the Bears went 1-27. Mercer is 10-6 this season, including 2-2 in the Southern Conference. The Bears play Friday at Samford.

“After that, we’ve just been putting the pieces together,” Penrod said. “I think we’ve got the right mix of girls to compete in the SoCon this year.”

The Bears went 3-0 in the Mercer Invite last month, with the two-day event starting Friday, Sept. 16.

“It was our first Friday night home match, so the crowd was alive and large,” Elder said.

On the second day of the tournament, Mercer beat Towson, which was 10-1 at the time, in five sets.

“There’s been other turning points each season that I’ve been, but that’s probably our biggest accomplishment so far,” Penrod said.

At the end of the weekend, Penrod was named the Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the second time in her career at Mercer. She recorded 27 digs against USC Upstate in the final match of the tournament and at least 20 digs against Towson and Fairleigh Dickinson.

Since the tournament, Penrod has moved up to second in the conference with 292 digs. She has also been consistently named to the all-tournament team in each of the four tournaments Mercer has played in so far this season.

But Penrod said her greatest accomplishment was not on the court but in the classroom.

“I have a 4.0 right now, I didn’t expect coming in freshman year that I’d have a 4.0,” Penrod said. “But I think I’ve related what we do on the court kind (to) what I do (with) homework and studying and stuff. I put a lot of effort into my grades.”

Elder said Penrod has been a model for what a student-athlete should be.

“Great athletically but more powerful academically, for sure, than almost anybody,” Elder said.

The Jupiter, Florida, native has been playing volleyball since the seventh grade, but that was only because she didn’t make the team in the sixth grade.

“I used to cheer, surprisingly, and I did that up until sophomore year of high school,” Penrod said.

Penrod came to Mercer a “little bit by chance,” according to Elder.

She was passing through the area, and Elder happened to be available to talk about the program. Penrod picked Mercer because it offered her a spot on both the indoor and beach volleyball teams.

While she had offers from other programs, very few were offering both indoor and beach.

“I like both too much to pick between the two,” Penrod said.

Penrod’s time at Mercer, however, is coming to a close. After four years on the court, she will graduate in May.

Elder said Penrod will be impossible to replace for at least a year.

“Just in terms of leadership and academic leadership, that’s going to be a little bit of the vacuum that someone else is going to have to fill,” Elder said.

Penrod, however, is confident that the program will continue to grow.

“I think our group of seniors have had a big impact on how it’s changed, but I think the people that are underneath are going to continue it. I don’t think it’s going to drop off or anything like that,” Penrod said.

This story was originally published October 4, 2016 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Penrod credited for Mercer volleyball success."