Senior Lizzy Fowler of the Nansemond-Suffolk Academy girls’ volleyball team helped create more in 2014 than another state championship-winning season.

She also helped create a future for herself in the sport beyond high school when she verbally committed to North Carolina’s Montreat College in December.

“It’s a really exciting feeling,” Fowler said of being able to commit. “I’ve worked really hard to keep playing in college because I really love the game, and I can’t imagine not playing my next four years. I’d miss it too much.”

She said playing at the next level has been a desire of hers “since I started playing club volleyball my freshman year.”

Fowler played for the Nansemond Volleyball Club, which is headed up by Lady Saints coach Robyn Ross.

Fowler noted Ross really pushed her, especially this past season at NSA.

“I had to pick up my game and really challenge myself,” Fowler said. “She prepared me.”

Ross said Fowler “had played sort of in the shadows until this year, and so once the schools started to see that she could really hold her own on the court and be a commanding presence, it sort of makes them sit up and take more notice.”

While Ross played a key role in her development, the coach pointed to Fowler’s will as having paved the way.

Creating the opportunity to commit to a school for volleyball was “her hard work and her decision, basically, that it was what she wanted, and after she decided that, then she was putting in more time in the gym and staying after practices and working on stuff.”

Ross said when she learned that Fowler had committed to Montreat, “I was excited for her. From listening to her talk about the school, it seemed like it was going to be a really good fit for her.”

Schools interested in Fowler’s volleyball skills had also included the University of Montana Western in Montana and Dixie State University in Utah.

The decision ultimately was a choice between the mountain-based campuses of Montana Western and Montreat.

“I knew from the start I wanted a school in the mountains,” Fowler said, an important detail given her major of choice — outdoor education.

She said Montreat, which has an impressive outdoor education program, is near Asheville, N.C., where there are outdoor jobs. This gives her a better-than-normal chance to get internships.

Not only is Montreat much closer to home for Fowler than Montana Western, but also it “was able to offer me a lot more to come and play.”

Her parents, Scott and Anne Fowler, offered advice during her college search.

“We really told her to see which college felt right and which team she really felt a connection to,” said Anne Fowler, who serves as an assistant volleyball coach at NSA and the Nansemond Volleyball Club.

Their daughter took their words into account.

“When I went and visited Montreat, I felt more of like a family vibe from the team and the whole school,” Lizzy Fowler said. “I had the same vibe from Montana, but Montreat, I felt more at home there.”

She said most of her school bill will be covered through the deal with Montreat, which also includes academic scholarships.