Abby Dillon has a smile that is infectious, but don’t let it fool you.
Behind that smile beats the heart of a fierce competitor that is willing to do whatever is needed to push her team to victory.
“I feel like it is just my demeanor. I am a pretty happy person, honestly. I like to be happy,” Dillon said.
When Dillon arrived at Woodrow Wilson last year as a freshman, her athletic ability was no secret, especially in the Beckley area.
Playing well above her years, it did not take long for teams around the state to learn her name as well.
“I was definitely nervous going into my freshman year with school, but especially with sports. Being a freshman, everybody looks at you a little bit differently,” Dillon said. “Thankfully I knew most of the players on all the teams. I am confident in myself, so after I got past the first few days in each sport, I was good to go.”
The first high school sport that Dillon dazzled the masses in was volleyball where she stepped into the setter position, often viewed as the toughest and one of the most crucial positions on the floor.
Dillon collected over 1,100 assists in her first season and helped the Flying Eagles win the Class AAA Region 3 title, earning a spot in the state tournament.
“She came in and filled some big shoes that I needed filled. I was down two setters,” Woodrow Wilson head volleyball coach Bre Rhodes said prior to the state tournament. “She is just phenomenal. Her knowledge of the game is more mature than a normal freshman.”
Volleyball was not the only fall sport in which she excelled, Dillon was also an excellent soccer player.
Unfortunately for the freshman sensation, the demands of each sport made it impossible to play both simultaneously.
“Soccer was the first sport that I played, so it was a very hard decision. I have a lot of really close friends on the soccer team,” Dillon said. “But, I love volleyball and realized that it’s hard to play two sports like those at once in the same season. It was a hard goodbye, but it’s a lot easier now.”
Coming from a family filled with excellent athletes, Dillon’s competitive fire has also been stoked at home with two talented younger siblings.
Coby Dillon is one year behind his older sister and has proven himself to be an outstanding athlete as he heads to Woodrow Wilson this year. Sydney Dillon is the youngest of the trio, but she already has her older sister raving about her abilities.
“We are supportive of each other, but there is some tough love sometimes,” the older sister said, laughing. “Coby and me will butt heads some and Sydney is just already too good and I can’t stand it. She is only going into fourth grade, so sometimes I just give her a hard time for the fun of it.”
Basketball provided maybe the biggest challenge for her freshman year with the Flying Eagles battling a depleted roster most of the season. Dillon again played above her years by stepping into the point guard position and became a regular double-digit threat each night.
However, the feat that Dillon pulled off in the spring may best explain her work ethic and why she is such a great all-around athlete.
Playing tennis for the first time, Dillon worked her way to the state tennis tournament in both singles and doubles.
“I was thinking about playing (tennis) and kind of joked about it all year. I wasn’t doing anything in the spring, so why not play,” Dillon said, playfully. “(Volleyball teammate) Elysia (Salon) played and a few other friends played. They were asking me if I was going to go out and I said why not.”
“I went out and played one day and I kind of liked it, so I just stayed out there. I was brand new at it and really didn’t know what I was doing,” Dillon went on to say. “It was fun and I just used my athletic ability. (Head tennis) Coach (Bernard) Bostic was great and all of the people were great. The technique in tennis is hard, so it definitely took practice.”
Even her head coach had to admit being a little surprised by her eventual success in year one on the tennis courts. He also thinks Dillon has a bright future as a tennis player.
“She has really picked it up and she has the desire to get better. She will hit with guys that are better than her in order to get better,” Bostick said. “She is not going to do anything but get better.”
Dillon now looks to build off her outstanding freshman season for what is hopefully an even bigger sophomore campaign. It will be a year where her talent will again be a big key to the success of her teams, but she will also be asked to step into more of a leadership role this year.
“We lost a lot of senior leadership last year in Elysia and Olivia (Ziolkowski) in volleyball and Olivia and Adriana (Law) in basketball,” Dillon said. “(Head girls basketball) Coach (Brian) Nabors has already expressed the importance of leadership. I am much more confident this year knowing I have experienced four-A basketball, triple-A volleyball and all of that. I think I should be more of a leader this year in every sport because I feel even more confident in myself and my team.”
When asked about the prospects of the volleyball and basketball teams this year, that characteristic smile shined brightly once again.
“I think we will have a good volleyball team even though we will be young. Patience will be a big key for us. We have Zamahya (Moss) back as a big middle. Sarah (Diehl) is back and Abby (Mower) is back on the back row along with Emily (Gallaher). I think we can surprise some people,” Dillon said. “I am really excited for basketball. We have some incoming seniors that are coming back, so hopefully we will be pretty good.”
