MUW Volleyball

  Words by Jodi Ann Martin | Images by Al Blanton 

In the fall of 2017, Carbon Hill High School’s volleyball team made it to the regionals against the Lexington High School Bears. It had been already been a long battle to arrive at that point, and the game was tight in the fifth and determining set. After the Bulldogs reached the game-winning point, the setter shot the ball into the air, and Ricki Jill Burrough leaped high and spiked it to the court. The outside hit secured a win for Carbon Hill, and above the roar of the crowd, you could hear Ricki Jill’s mother yelling, “That’s my baby!’”

Ricki Jill began her volleyball career in the 7th grade. “I really didn’t know anything about volleyball at that time in my life,” she says. “I ended up really liking it out of all the other sports I played, like basketball and cheer. Volleyball was something that I could see myself succeed in better than anything else.” 

Her success flourished throughout high school under coach Saige Beaty, as the Bulldogs won regional tournaments and reached the Final Four in both 2016 and 2017. 

Ricki Jill knew she wanted to continue playing beyond high school and found the perfect place at Bevill State Community College’s Fayette campus. “Bevill was a no-brainer because of how close to home it was for me,” she says. “I just really liked the people there.” 

Since graduating from Bevill State, Ricki Jill is pursuing a degree in speech pathology at Mississippi University for Women (MUW) in Columbus, Mississippi, while still playing the sport she loves. She credits her confidence on the court to her close relationship with God. 

“I always run into the bathroom or somewhere quiet to pray before every game,” she says. 

Her humble spirit perfectly encapsulates the message of her favorite verse, Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

With faith and a great support system from her family, Ricki Jill hopes to continue to soar through every set of life. 78