Rural North Carolina, from its hardscrabble beginnings, has produced steadfast and exceptional citizens. Her native sons and daughters tamed an unforgiving wilderness and continue to build an existence among picturesque and majestic mountains. Bucknell Volleyball middle blocker Riley Tucker comes from the latest generation of Tarheels to leave their mark on the public stage.
Tucker hailed from a softball-driven family. Both her mother and grandfather played the sport, and she naturally followed in their footsteps. She was quite good at the sport and continued to excel through high school. Tucker seemed destined for the diamond, but her height proved a wildcard. Standing 5-11 at the tender age of nine, volleyball increasingly became an option.
Her start in the sport was a testament to her determination and her mother's. They missed the tryout at the local club. Tucker's mother called the director. He explained how they missed the tryout period. Her mother cleverly mentioned Tucker's height and scored a kill. The director immediately installed Tucker on the team. Her mother, Laurie, continues to play a role. She attends nearly every game and has become the team's unofficial photographer, snapping shots like Tucker pounds kills.
Most athletes play several positions in their respective sport before settling into a specific spot. Tucker started at middle blocker and never rotated around. She and the position found the perfect synergy.
"I've always been a middle. I've never been a pin for a season or anything like that. And I think that happened originally because of where I'm from. I was abnormally tall for my area. So they threw me in the middle, and I really felt like I thrived."
Her success in the middle provided a mental boost during the challenging transition from childhood to adulthood. Often, what many perceive as a blessing is considered a hurdle or stressful. Height falls under that category. Standing out among adolescents leaves a person susceptible to barbs and taunts.
It was awkward at first, especially in middle school, being the tallest girl, and being the tallest person, not just the tallest girl. Being in the middle made me feel more comfortable. The passion for that position really highlighted why I should be there. People could see that I was more comfortable playing volleyball because I was happy in that spot. So I would say that's why I played the middle. It just always felt like home for me."
Bison fans, familiar with her #11, should know it is a family tradition to be enblazoned with the designation. Both her mother and grandfather wore the number during their softball exploits. Tucker's donning continues the family heritage.
Academics and Division I athletics powered her collegiate choice. Tucker's ultimate goal is medical school, and Bucknell has prepared more than its fair share of doctors. The small class size and Division I status reinforced her choice.
"I wanted to find a school where I could play competitive volleyball at the Division I level, but still obtain my desired education that would get me to grad school. Bucknell fits that perfectly."
Tucker made family history by becoming a first-generation college attendee. Most students in rural North Carolina do not attend college or even consider the option. Her father's, who recently passed away a week and a half ago, goal for Tucker was attending college.
"My whole life growing up, I wanted to go to college. There's a new level of gratitude that I have just to be here. That's what being first generation means to me. It is like I'm bringing something back to my family that we never had."
Her biology major stemmed from a lifelong love affair with animals and life science. She was originally in biochemistry and cell biology, but realizing how many bioelectives Bucknell offered, she switched to field entomology. Now, Tucker goes out and hunts for bugs. She and her classmates even have a competition to see who can smash the most invasive lantern flies.
Tucker also minors in dance. Her dancing career started at an early age, but she momentarily halted her lessons to focus on softball and volleyball. Tucker returned to the hobby in middle school. She doesn't recollect what triggered the renewed interest, but that lacked importance compared to the outcome. Her sports schedule did not provide an opening for traditional lessons, but Tucker's resourceful Tarheel spirit found a way. She obtained videos and taught herself at home. The homeschooled lessons prepared her to audition for the honors dance program at her high school. She parlayed the chance into a four-year career.
Coming into college, Tucker wanted to continue dancing. A biology major and dance minor aren't a common coupling, but the pairing works for her. Tucker's schedule is jammed packed with a difficult major and a demanding Division I sport, but dancing allows her to decompress. She has trained in everything, but contemporary lyrical is her favorite, as the form allows self-expression.
"People would assume that adding dance on top of that would just make all that harder, but I found it's the opposite. That's the time I get to speak to other dancers and really express myself in a way that I can through words."
Her dance background improved her volleyball skills. Tucker nimbly moves, like a sprite, across the middle. She regularly leaps above the net and collects "cookie jar kills" when her hands smack back opponents' errant digs. Many NFL players have taken ballet to improve coordination, and the same skills apply to Tucker's dancing.
Tucker stays as busy as a beaver off the court. She spent the summer after her freshman season interning at an animal farm. The commute was easy enough - only a mile from her house. The farm has a cast fit for a sitcom or children's variety show with cows, horses, goats, donkeys, chickens, and even exotic species like a sassy ring-tailed lemur, peacocks, an emu, and water buffalo.
Her experience was all-encompassing. She administered medications, learned fully what animal care entailed, led multiple kids' camps, and gave tours. The internship gave Tucker the chance to give back to her cherished community.
"I grew up in rural North Carolina farm culture, but I really got to experience it in a new way, a teaching way. Getting to volunteer and do that with my community meant so much to me."
Tucker recently added another hobby, scuba diving, to her impressive resume. Her interest in an internship at the Georgia Aquarium sparked the decision. The application required scuba certification. Ironically, she earned the certification, but ended up not applying.
"I was so glad I still got the scuba certification because I met a whole new community of people who are so different than what I'm used to. They're not in athletics, and they're not in the STEM field, but they are truly so compassionate, and they just welcome everybody."
The classes ended up as another way for mother and daughter to bond. Her mother took the course because she didn't want to wait in the car during the lessons. Little decisions like that form the bedrock of great memories.
"So she signed up and took the class with me, and I remember watching her underwater. She was panicking. She was looking at me, and she just did such a phenomenal job, and she got over that fear, and I think getting my scuba certification brought me closer to my mom."
A family vacation to Nassau in the Bahamas provided the perfect opportunity to use her newfound skills. As the revised lyrics for "Sloop John B" go, "We come on the sloop John B/My mother and me/Around Nassau town we did roam," The trip offered the chance for Tucker to overcome her primal fear of submechanophobia. Tucker purposely took scuba as a way of conquering her fear.
Submechanophobia is the fear of submerged, man-made objects, such as sunken ships, buoys, or underwater machinery. It is an understandable phobia. Humankind was not designed to exist underwater. However, from the earliest days, humans have followed the ocean's siren call to discover wonderful sites under the sea. Tucker followed the same wave to a marine wonderland.
The Nassau tourist industry deliberately sank all types of naval craft in the ocean, including massive battleships, providing a coral theme park. Tucker and her mother swam through the ships, marveling at how their insides were still intact. The kitchens, the bathrooms, she even saw a toilet. The most comparable land-based expedition would be touring an abandoned hotel and seeing cereal slowly rotting in its plastic container. The sea life claimed the ships as their habitat. Tucker interacted with fish and sharks, and despite the experience feeling like the Scooby Doo episode with Captain Cutler's Ghost, she did not run into any criminals in masks. However, she did see the Staniel Cay Plane Wreck: a drug smuggler's plane that was ditched during the Pablo Escobar drug-running empire in the 1970s.
"I remember turning around and just looking at my mom, and she just put her camera up and took photos. It also meant a lot to me, because now I'm not afraid anymore. I can go swim in the quarries back home, and I'll not be super afraid of a little fisher, bass boat, or anything."
While she will always have a soft spot for animals, Tucker decided after two experiences to pick pre-med over pre-vet. She spent a summer working in the labs making Acetaminophen, better known to the layman as Tylenol.
"It wasn't until I got to that one that I saw the real-life purpose of what we were doing. Knowing that something that I'm doing is so real, I think that really inspired me to switch over to pre-med."
Her second experience involved shadowing doctors in Winston-Salem, many of whom were through the Novant Health system. Tucker shadowed physicians in family medicine, internal medicine, GI, and geriatrics. She even received some hands-on experience, taking out staples and stitches, and helping a doctor administer a knee injection. Tucker also spent 150 hours working in hospice during July alone. She led the grief counseling at Camp Carousel, talking with kids about loss and creating arts & crafts with those unwilling to chat.
"Seeing all that really inspired me that after college, I want to go to med school, and I want to get into health care, and I feel really passionate about that. I was really inspired by what my stepfather was going through, and also, like I mentioned, my dad's battle with cancer. Those experiences, shadowing and in hospice, solidified my intent to go into health care. I'm not sure if I want to get a master's in biomedical or medical sciences before I go to med school. But I know med school is my ultimate goal. Because I've seen what goes into health care, and I want to be the absolute best I can be for my patients."
The 2025 volleyball season hasn't been a banner campaign after last year's 21-5 record. The Bison, as of publication, sit 7-11 overall and 4-5 in conference play. Tucker remains optimistic about the season. The team has seven league games left, and the fourth seed, which comes with a home quarterfinal game, is still available. Tucker has done her part, shining as one of Bucknell's brightest stars, leading the team with 53 blocks.
"This season hasn't gone the way we planned, but we've learned so much else from it, and we're going to continue to build on that. We can't change the past, but we can learn from what has happened and put our best foot forward."
She and new assistant coach Kristen Sipling have bonded. Sipling previously served as the head coach at Alvernia. Her volleyball experience has meshed well with Tucker's desire for knowledge.
"We have a fantastic relationship. I always go to her when I have a question because she is just such a calm person, and she settles me down. She's full of great, great information, and she's so knowledgeable."
Sipling reciprocates the same sentiment about Tucker.
"I joined the Bucknell coaching staff in the spring, and it's been fun getting to know Riley. She works hard and strives to make an impact within matches, and I am excited to see what she will do as our season continues."
Tucker still has one more year at the University Next to the Susquehanna, but she offered this reflection on her Bison tenure.
"I don't think Bucknell has been what I've originally expected. But I think it's been more. College for me has been really hard in a way that I hadn't expected. I've experienced so much loss at home. I've taken really tough classes and learned how to balance that with both dance and volleyball. Yes, it's been hard. But I don't think anywhere else would have prepared me for that. I don't think any other experience would have set me up for so much success in my future and through reflection, that's what matters more to me. I wouldn't have wanted any easier an experience. The academics here are rigorous. The volleyball here gets hard. But that's what I needed. I don't think going anywhere easier or taking the easy way out would have set me up for the success I needed. I'm trying to do really hard things. I'm trying to get into med school. I'm trying to be the first person in my family to do these impossible things. I think coming here really trained me for that, and I'm just so grateful for the experience."
Tucker exemplifies the pure toughness of the Piedmont region. Her academic and personal life are a testament to her tenacious personality. As long as she remembers her roots and retains that hardy fortitude, she will be set up for success.