Trek worth it for Wolfpack’s Dodd

Every morning, St. Ignatius volleyball star Sophia Dodd rises at 6:40 a.m. for the 45-minute drive from her home in Hinsdale to the Near West Side of Chicago. She leaves her house by 6:50 a.m. A few minutes later, she’s asleep again.

“My brother drives, so I just sleep in the car,” she said.

Sleep is a rare commodity for student-athletes at St. Ignatius. Dodd said she averages two-and-a-half hours of homework each evening. By the time she gets home from volleyball practice or a match and finishes homework, it’s easily 11 p.m.

“A lot it varies from night to night,” Dodd said. “You get those nights where you stay up until 3 a.m. and have to wake up at 5 a.m. to write a paper. But those aren’t typical. That doesn’t happen too often.”

Nevertheless, the classroom regimen can be demanding at St. Ignatius, acknowledged as one of the top academic schools in the state, even when you are recognized as one the best volleyball players in the country.

Last summer, Dodd led her 1st Alliance 16 Silver volleyball team to the national title at the AAU championships in Orlando, Fla. She was named the age division’s most valuable player.

“I actually did not expect that at all,” Dodd said. “I didn’t know there was an MVP at the tournament. When they called the names of the All-Americans, they called my teammates Melissa (Deatsch of York) and Mallory (Salis of Marist).

“I was happy for them,” she added. “They played awesome, as did everyone else on my team. I was little hurt that I didn’t get called. It’s OK. Everyone played well and we won, that’s all I cared about. Then when they called my name, gosh, I was in shock.”

Her decision to leave her grade school friends and follow her older brother Buck to St. Ignatius was almost as surprising. But the opportunity to experience the diversity of both the city and the student body at St. Ignatius was too enticing.

“I looked at other schools, but I liked the idea of being in the city and opening myself from the suburban bubble,” Dodd said. “It’s nice to meet a lot of people from different places. If I was still in the suburbs, I’d probably have no idea what those places even were.”

St. Ignatius, which could hardly be considered a volleyball power before Dodd and teammates like Camille Evans, Mary Grassano, Rachele Lock and Courtney Somerville arrived, is happy she came.

“She’s going to be dynamite,” St. Ignatius coach Erik Eastman said. “She’s got all the tools. She’s also a tough kid as we saw the other night when she came back from the little stinger on her shoulder. ... She’s a tough, tough kid.”

Dodd’s toughness is also tested off the court. Her father is battling cancer.

“It’s fine,” she said. “Everyone has their home-life issues, and you just got to take your mind off of it. That’s why I love volleyball. It takes my mind off it. When I go to school, it takes my mind off it because I’m thinking about my studies. But it does bring your family together a lot.”

Dodd’s ability to deal with what happens on and off the court has not gone unnoticed.

“Sophia’s maturity level is probably one of her biggest assets.” Eastman said. “It’s the one thing you can’t read on any statistics sheet.”

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