Macy Carrabine recently made the eyeball-numbing drive from Denver, Colorado, to College Station, Texas, dividing the trip into a pair of seven-hour journeys over two days.
Awaiting the Center Grove graduate was tradition, and plenty of it.
Earlier this month, Carrabine graduated from the University of Denver after four seasons playing volleyball for the Pioneers. She’s taking her skill set as a libero/defensive specialist and moving it south.
Carrabine has joined the program at Texas A&M as a graduate transfer, will have one year of athletic eligibility remaining.
“I was just there to move all of my stuff from my apartment,” Carrabine said. “Basically, it’s a pretty similar drive from Indy to Denver, but I like driving. You have time to reflect and listen to music. Me and my mom (Stacy) were in two separate cars, but every so often we would call each other if we got bored.”
The 5-foot-11 Carrabine was anything but at Denver, helping the Pioneers post an 87-21 record and earn three NCAA tournament berths during her time there. She played in 325 sets, made 1,149 digs (fifth all-time in program history) and was credited with 293 assists.
Carrabine chose a season at Texas A&M over five other warm-weather Division I schools offering her a scholarship — Alabama, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina State and South Carolina.
She visited all six campuses, but said the A&M experience was unique. Carrabine verbally committed to coach Bird Kuhn on May 14 but waited a month before making the announcement on social media.
“Basically, I got on campus and felt there was something bigger than sports,” Carrabine said. “Everywhere you look, there’s a tradition. It’s like a giant family, and I told my mom it kind of reminded me of Center Grove the way the community is invested.
“You can really feel the spirit of the 12th Man.”
Texas A&M finished with a 9-9 record last season. Because of precautions taken due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Aggies played matches in October and November, and then not again until February and March.
Home matches against Southeastern Conference foes Tennessee and eventual national champion Kentucky were postponed and not rescheduled; would-be road matches at Auburn were declared no contest.
Carrabine, who hopes to return to campus early in July for preseason conditioning and open gym, doesn’t know what her exact role will be with the Aggies. The 2021 roster includes five other liberos/defensive specialists, two of whom, Taylor Voss and Allison Fields, will be seniors.
Asked what kind of impact Carrabine could make in only one season on the court, Kuhn quickly references former Aggies libero Camila Gomez, a native of Colombia who transferred in for one season (2019) and helped lead the team to a 23-8 record and the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.
Carrabine, the coach feels, brings a similar type of “it” factor.
“We’re super excited because of the career Macy has already had,” Kuhn said. “We have depth at that position, but it’s the experience she brings. Just watching her film, it made sense for us. We just knew. She’s so outgoing and so bubbly and knows what she wants. She’s very contagious with her energy.
“As a libero, there’s such an opportunity to have an impact. It’s what you do for the players around you.”
