Malia Riggs
Photos from Meloni Carter
Serving success and spiking dreams into reality, Prattville Christian Academy’s, PCA, Emma Cate Carter is serving up her dream on and off the court, acing her future.
Carter signed her letter of intent last month to continue her volleyball career at Coastal Alabama Community College, continuing her dreams of becoming a collegiate athlete.
“We are very proud of her work ethic and her ability to be a team player. As her parents, we are extremely excited to see her move on as a college student athlete. We pray that she will continue to improve on and off the court with learned life lessons that will help to build character for her future,” Carter’s mom Meloni Carter said.
What started as a hobby at the local YMCA at 7-years-old for Emma, has now turned into her path forward to higher education. Emma stated that she not only plays volleyball for PCA, but also plays travel ball.
In travel ball, Emma confirmed her primary position is outside, and at PCA she mainly plays around, meaning that Emma doesn’t rotate off the court, Emma confirmed.
“Emma Cate has worked exceptionally hard and grown so much as a student athlete in the last two years. EC plays volleyball year around, including school ball and club ball. She pushes herself with extra practices and private lessons. She also enjoys Crossfit to get stronger and work on her vertical jump. Since winning a State Championship in 2021 and now, a second in 2023, her leadership skills and athletic abilities to help provide team victories have improved tremendously,” Meloni said of Emma.
The PCA volleyball program has made headlines recently with their recent class 4A State Championship title this past October, their second state championship in the last three years.
This year the team has also won the 4A South Regional for the first time in school history as well as the 4A Area 5 Tournament, where Emma was named the Most Valuable Player of the Area 5 Tournament with 14 kills, 11 digs, and 9 aces.
“To make it to this point (winning championships) it takes ups and downs. People doubt what the team is capable of. We also, enjoy winning while you can because you can only play sports for so long,” Emma said.
Emma stated that she is excited to start playing with new people and to be coached differently than what she is used to, to enhance her game. Emma also confirmed that she is excited to play against the bigger colleges in the area going forward.
Emma confirmed that there was one quote that the team would repeat before games to get the team going, Emma stated “diggers gonna dig, setters gonna set, pounders, gonna pound.”
From a Panther to a Coyote, Emma is digging deep to ensure that she aces whatever is thrown her way, on and off the court.
