According to Sandhills Community College volleyball coach Alicia Hill, Paige Horne loves to play the game.

Before a small gathering at the John Dempsey Center Wednesday afternoon, the Flyer setter’s opportunity to keep playing and continue her education at Fayetteville State was celebrated.

The attendees included Horne’s mother, Myra White; Barbara Foxx, her coach at Pinecrest High School; and SCC athletics director Aaron Denton and friends.

Horne was an all-region selection in 2010 as a freshman when the Flyers made it to the NJCAA Division III national tournament in Rochester, Minn., in the program’s second year. She was the team MVP last fall when they lost in the regional championship match. The Flyers were a combined 39-17 during her two seasons.

“We’re going to miss a huge leader on and off the court,” Hill says. “They are big shoes to fill because she was our captain and she’s been our setter the last two years.”

Horne lives in Aberdeen with her mother and stepfather, Chuck Phillips.

She will be the first player since the reinstatement of the volleyball program in 2009 to go from the Flyers to play at a four-year college.

Horne plans to continue pursuing a degree in secondary education with the goal of becoming a high school math teacher and coach.

She has felt welcomed by the players at Fayetteville State. The Lady Broncos are the defending Division II CIAA Southern Division champions.

“I think being at Sandhills gets you prepared to go to a four-year school,” Horne says. “The professors prepare you for how it is going to be at a university.”

She credits Foxx with getting her started on learning the key role of playmaker when she was a senior at Pinecrest.

Hill and assistant coach Morgan Ridge, a former Pinecrest and UNC Pembroke player, have also helped hone her game.

“Going to Minnesota was really big,” she says. “I was hoping we would go again my second season. Winning the regional and getting all-region honors helped get me where I am now.”

Hill describes Horne as a very coachable player with a strong work ethic.

“Since Day One as a freshman, Paige had the mentality that she was going to come in and do her job and start as setter,” the North Moore and UNC Pembroke graduate says. “Even in the spring she came in and joined the girls in workouts. She’s come to every open gym this summer.

“She wants to play, and I’m excited for her that she’s gotten this opportunity.”