Big School volleyball Player of the Year: McCutcheon's Chloe Chicoine

LAFAYETTE - There's not much left to add to Chloe Chicoine's high school volleyball resume at this point.

But we will.

The McCutcheon senior is the Journal & Courier Big School volleyball Player of the Year for the third straight season.

Chicoine's trophy room already is littered with awards, most notably Gatorade Player of the Year, Class 4A state champion, Best Spiker at the Pan Am Cup, where she led USA's U21 team to a gold medal, and the newly created Indiana Ms. Volleyball award, of which she is the first winner.

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And through all of that, she never changed.

Never did she become arrogant or feel she was above her teammates.

Quite the opposite, actually.

"I hope they see I tried to give my all on the court every time," Chicoine said. "Even if I wasn’t feeling great or it was a team we struggled against. Giving all I had no matter what. I come across as intense at times, but when people got to know me, they see I can be fun and goofy."

Perhaps that's what makes Chicoine so endearing.

She's the best volleyball player on the floor. She's the best volleyball player in the country, if you buy into those who rate recruits.

And yet, she's so reserved and despite knowing she's capable of doing so much more, she wants her teammates to shine over herself.

That team-first mentality, combined with Chicoine's obvious traits, made McCutcheon volleyball a household name and helped fill gymnasiums wherever the Mavericks went.

"We know McCutcheon was starting to rise, but we weren't really a thing until she became a part of our program," McCutcheon coach Sara Sutter said. "More and more people took notice. We're a small 4A school from Lafayette and no one really pays attention to us. She helped bring value to what high school sports is. I know club volleyball has become mainstream, but she truly loves what high school volleyball is. She helped show the community high school sports is a big deal and should be valued."

Statistically, even at a program as rich as McCutcheon's, no one matches up with the soon-to-be Purdue Boilermaker.

We can spew out those numbers - more than 2,000 career kills and a career hitting percentage of .435, which just defies logic when you look at the brutal schedule McCutcheon built over the past four years.

Those aren't important because Chicoine always knew she could be better and it was the numbers she wasn't putting up that drove her.

"Surprisingly, her weakest skill since her freshman year, and she even knew that, was serving," Sutter said. "It's crazy to think because she is so physically strong. Serving has always been a goal of hers every season to get better. She tried different things, tried top spin, tried different locations. Her senior year, she had by far the most aces she's ever had and really challenged teams we played. To me, that was a huge accomplishment to her."

By being the best, but not acting as such, Chicoine helped provide a template to follow in what it means to be a teammate.

When the best player also is the hardest worker, it lends itself well to team success.

"There’s a lot of players better than me out there, so it’s really easy to know that you’re really not that great yet and you still have a lot you have to do," Chicoine said. "You have to instill into your teammates that they can do it for them to perform and do well. It is not about you. You have to serve them, but lead by example. You have to be on them, but then work hard and if they see that, they’ll do it too."

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Big School volleyball Player of the Year: McCutcheon's Chloe Chicoine