Hayfield senior volleyball player Abby Blanchard makes a dig at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester last season. Blanchard recently signed her letter-of-intent to play volleyball at Briar Cliff University on a partial athletic scholarship.

HAYFIELD — Years of hard work paid off for Hayfield senior Abby Blanchard when she signed her letter-of-intent to play volleyball on a partial athletic scholarship at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa next season.

Blanchard, who totaled 474 kills and 482 digs for the Vikings the past two seasons, put in a lot of hard work to get where she is today. At just 5-foot, 8-inches, she uses her athletic ability to get to the net and she also plays solid in the back row as she was Hayfield’s best passer this past season.

“Coming from a small town, I knew that I if I wanted to get looked at, I had to put my name out there,” Blanchard said. “Then I just had to work hard and people would see it.”

Blanchard was recruited by quite a few schools but her choice eventually came down to Briar Cliff and Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wis.

Since her brother attends Briar Cliff, that helped make the choice easier.

“It seemed like it all fit and I’m excited,” Blanchard said.

Besides taking on college volleyball, Blanchard is also taking on a degree in nursing, which can be demanding. She discovered a couple of players on the Chargers team are also nursing majors and they’ve managed to keep up with their studies and their sport.

“It’ll be tough, but it’s nice to know it’s possible,” Blanchard said.

Blanchard will likely play on the JV team her first season for the Chargers, who are a Division II NAIA team that went 12-20 this season.

“I like that they have a JV team, because I’m not a fan of sitting on the bench,” Blanchard said. “I’ll have to work really hard and get in the weight room. Hopefully I can work my way up.”

Hayfield head volleyball coach Deb Harvey said Blanchard caught her eye when she was a freshman. Harvey wanted to bring her up to varsity, but the roster was full, so Blanchard practiced with the varsity team.

The next season, Blanchard got in the lineup due to an injury to a teammate and she held the outside hitter spot for the next three years.

“She just jumped in and never looked back,” Harvey said. “It’s really great to see Hayfield kids move on (to play in college). It’s motivating for the kids coming up because if someone else from Hayfield can do it, so can they.”

Now that she doesn’t have to worry about where she’s going to school, Blanchard is looking forward to her senior season with the Viking basketball team this winter.

“I wanted to get it out of the way,” she said. “Now I can focus on basketball and offseason volleyball.”