Stepping onto the volleyball court for the first time in 7th grade, Kiley McTaggart has since blocked, set, and spiked her way up to becoming North Penn’s Girls volleyball senior captain. 

Coming up on her 6th year of playing, McTaggart started with club teams knowing few people who played but quickly found her way in the community and was able to make lots of friends, even ones from different schools. 

 “By that time I was starting to grow so [my parents] were like oh my gosh you’re really tall you should try volleyball and I tried it for the first time and was like okay this is my sport,” shared McTaggart. 

McTaggart later joined the North Penn team in 9th grade and was the only freshman to make varsity that year.  She’s played for North Penn ever since and was made varsity senior captain this year.

“I feel it was kind of expected because everyone else left but I think it good to have some control over how people feel about each other and if there’s any drama…it’s my job to disperse it and talk to coaches about it and figure out what I can do to get rid of it” explained McTaggart. “It also helps with leadership, like I need to be a good leader and guide people and set a good example.”

To further her academic and athletic career McTaggart has recently committed to Salisbury University located in Salisbury, Maryland. She is excited to go and has already made good connections with the team after doing an overnight visit this past weekend. 

“It all started with academics, academics come first and it was between Salisbury and Millersville, which after evaluating their schools I realized that Salisbury had better academics for what I want to go into. I had to watch their teams play but it took a lot of thinking and a lot of decision making and stress,” said McTaggart. “They’re D3 but they’re very good and could definitely beat smaller D1 schools” McTaggart shared. 

As for other college plans, McTaggart plans on majoring in finance or some other business-related major, but she is still deciding. She is also unsure of where volleyball lies in her future. 

“I don’t know if I will continue to play after college. I want to keep playing outdoor tournaments, like on the weekends but I don’t know if I might try coaching. I might not,” McTaggart explained. 

McTaggart is unsure of what’s to come but her love for volleyball won’t change.

 “I like that [volleyball] keeps me healthy, I love that it’s a fun game, and I like the people I play with. It’s mostly a mental game so I like to learn along the way and it’s just fun to have fun with my friends,” McTaggart concluded.