On a Friday in early November, the Panthers were up in a home match against Jacksonville State when the Gamecocks’ starting middle blocker, Shari Weyer. went down with a knee injury.

The Gamecocks won the next three games and took the match 3-2.

Eastern head coach Lori Bennett remembers Abbey Breit, JSU’s second middle, stepping up to push her team to victory.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Bennett said. “The kid decided she was going to win, and everyone on her team said, ‘OK’, and there was nothing we could do, she single handedly made her team win.”

JSU head coach Rick Nold said it’s a two way street when it comes to Abbey and the team.

“Her being successful helps her and she helps them. It’s good balance,” Nold said.

“She’s the one working hardest.”

Her record speaks for itself.

Breit has 228 kills in the first 40 games of this season, a number which is more than a third of her team’s total kills (630). Both lead the Ohio Valley Conference, and last week Breit was named Player of the Week by the OVC for the third time in the past four weeks.

“You manage everyone else and try to keep her damage to a minimum,” Bennett said.

Nold said it’s Breit’s all around skills that people notice.

“She puts up the numbers in the front row and plays a defense back row for us. That’s what makes her stand out from a lot of other players,” he said.

Breit has known she wanted to play Division I volleyball since she began playing school and club volleyball. One of her athletic highlights growing up was when she was named tournament MVP as a 16 year old playing up on an 18 and under team at the Junior Olympics National Invitational that her team won. This honor earned her a spot in the July 2002 issue of “Faces in the Crowd”, a section in Sports Illustrated.

Her success has continued in college.

Last season she became the first sophomore in 10 years to earn the OVC Player of the Year Award, became her school’s first volleyball All-American and played a key role in leading her team to the school’s first OVC tournament title and first trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Breit has been honored by ESPN, Sports Illustrated, the American Volleyball Coaches Associaton and OVC numerous times, but her favorite honor is was the Honorable mention All-American ranking she earned last season.

“It was out of the blue, and not something I ever thought I could accomplish,” she said.

Another thing Breit is accomplishing is making it tough for opposing coaches when they play JSU.

Tennessee Martin’s head coach Amy Draper said her team’s overall preparation is the same for each match, but anytime that one player can take over a match, it can be challenging to go into.

“When you know that there is one player that can take over, it’s a very challenging thing to go up against,” said Draper of Breit.

And just because Breit is having success in the OVC, does not mean she wouldn’t in more high-profile conferences.

“She [Breit] would get her kills no matter what conference she is in,” Samford’s head volleyball coach, Michelle Durban said.

But unfortunately for the head coaches in the OVC, Breit is in their conference.

“You can do your best to prepare to play your best against them (JSU) but you can’t prepare for her (Breit’s) adjustments, and the things she can do that you don’t know she can do until she does them,” Bennett said.