DAPHNE, Alabama — Sitting between the 2010 and 2011 state championship trophies she helped her team earn, Victoria Smith of Bayside Academy signed to play volleyball for Wallace State-Hanceville Community College on Friday.

The All-State defensive specialist (libero) for the 10-time defending state champion Lady Admirals was the lone senior on the 2011 squad and led her team in digs and service aces for head coach Ann Schilling.

“Victoria has been an important part of our program the last two years,” Schilling said. “She just has good defensive ball-control skills and she frustrated many opposing teams in those seasons. She’s quick, her reading skills have gotten a lot better and that’s something that will come in handy, especially at the next level. She’s just gotten a lot better over the past two years and just a lot more confident. At the end of last year she ended up being one of our court leaders so that is what she is going to have to do.

“When she came here we actually needed some ball-control. That was one of the big question marks for our team. She came in and I knew she could help us right away. The main thing I was trying to do was make her more vocal and that is something she is going to have to continue to do because she is not the most vocal kid on the court. I like my libero to take charge out there. She has great hands, she set our system and she can do a lot of things to help a team.”

Smith transferred in from McGill-Toolen Catholic as a junior and fit right in as Schilling had just lost a libero in Caroline Todd to graduation.

Wallace State-Hanceville coach Randy Daniel said his team is facing a similar situation next season and Smith has all the tools as well as the tradition of winning his team his always looking for.

“I was looking for a libero to replace one who had graduated,” he said. “From watching her play in the past, she was very talented, very good, well-coached and she is used to winning. So, all of those characteristics are — as a college coach — well, you want those. She can step right in. She is used to winning and knows what it takes,” Getting a really good server was also a nice bonus, Daniel said. “She already has so much potential to help our team, but we can always use a good serve, too.”

Smith led the Lady Admirals with 641 digs and 147 service aces last fall. Playing defense and passing had always been a natural strong suit she said, but improving her serve to the point of leading on a team laden with great servers took extra work.

“I had worked a lot on my serve because I wanted to lead this year in aces my senior year,” she said. “I worked really hard last summer on it.”

She added that the campus and the winning program at Wallace appealed to her.

“I’m excited. It means a lot to me to be chosen because I know that a lot of people haven’t signed. I am just really excited to play volleyball for the next two years. I wanted to go away from home, but not too far. And, I loved the campus when I went there. I am just ready for a change.”

The daughter of Laura and Joe Smith and sister of first-grader Zachary of Daphne, Smith plans to pursue a career in dentistry as an orthodontist.