As a kid, when bedtime rolled around, Anna Greer “AG” Vandagriff would line up at the bottom of the stairs, next to her older brother, Brock, and her younger sister, Audrey.
In race formation.
“Ready …” their dad, Greg, would yell.
The kids would assume their starting positions.
“My mom would yell at my dad, ‘Greg! You’re getting them all fired up before bed!'” But the race had to go on. It was Vandagriff tradition.
“Go!”
“We raced up the stairs every night,” AG recalled, laughing.
“It was a free-for-all,” Greg said of the nightly ritual. “Sometimes, it would take them five to 10 minutes” to determine a winner.
AG Vandagriff grew up in a family of competitors.
“You name it, we played it,” AG said of her childhood. “Everything was a competition.”
Wiffleball. Kickball. Hide-and-seek. Even ascending the stairs to bed was a battle for supremacy!
“My dad actually spray-painted a permanent four square court – with official dimensions – on our sidewalk because we played it so much.”
The Vandagriff kids did not like to lose. Did somebody usually end up crying? “Oh, all the time …” AG recalled with a grin.
Greg confirmed. “We had family ping pong rankings,” he said. “Whoever was the worst player would be crying when the rankings came out.”
Little mercy was shown.
“I told the kids ‘You’ll circle the day you beat me in ping pong. You’ll circle it on the calendar. Because I’m not ever letting you win. And then it’ll mean something to you.”
When COVID-19 struck, “obviously we couldn't compete with our sports teams anymore,” AG said. “So we were just like: ‘What do we do? We've got to play sports!’”
The solution? Vandagriff Family Olympics!
“We played water volleyball, bocce ball, target practice, around the world, four square, and wiffleball,” AG said. “There was a points system and a leaderboard. Whoever was at the bottom of the leaderboard had to do the dishes for that week.”
Despite the constant competition, the power rankings, and the leaderboards, the Vandagriff household was also filled with love and encouragement.
“Yes, we did compete against each other around the house,” AG said. “But at the end of the day, we were always on Team Vandagriff. My dad always emphasized Team Vandagriff. He taught us this acronym when we were younger: FAMILY means “Forget About Me … I Love You.” That’s just stayed with me.
Team Vandagriff has produced three Division-I student-athletes … in three different sports!
Brock followed in the football footsteps of his father. Greg played college football at Tennessee Wesleyan University and is a two-time state champion coach at Prince Avenue Christian School, just outside of Athens, Georgia. Brock starred for his dad at Prince Avenue and is now a quarterback at the University of Georgia.
Audrey went the softball route, like her mom, Kelly, who played softball and basketball at Southern Union College in Alabama. Audrey is currently a standout center fielder at Prince Avenue and is committed to play at the University of Alabama next season.
AG, however, blazed her own trail.
The middle Vandagriff always stood out from her siblings. She is shorter than Brock and Audrey, the only left-hander of the bunch, and the only dark-haired child (Brock and Audrey are strawberry blondes).
AG grew up playing softball, like her mom and sister. “Softball was actually my first sports love.”
But she fell out of love with it around middle school. AG tried different sports. She dabbled in dance.
“I remember she asked me, ‘Dad, when am I going to find my sport?’” Greg said. “And my thing to her was always: ‘Anna, you’re looking for the sport that wakes you up in the morning. You’re so excited, you can’t wait to wake up in the morning and play it.’”
AG found that sport in volleyball.
She started playing in eighth grade. She did not start playing club volleyball until her sophomore year of high school.
Admittedly, the Vandagriffs were not a “volleyball family.”
“I really had no knowledge of volleyball, because my mom hadn't played it and my dad knew nothing about it,” AG said.
“Her mom and I had to learn the game,” Greg confirmed. “We all had to learn the game.”
Specifically, they had to learn the lingo.
“When she went to her first travel ball tryout, the coaches were telling her all these things, and of course she was just responding with ‘yes, sir’ ‘yes, sir’ ‘yes, sir,’” Greg said. “She didn’t even know what the guy was saying. Finally, I walked up to the coach and said ‘Look, she doesn’t know the volleyball words.’”
None of that deterred AG. She loved playing volleyball. It woke her up in the morning.
“So I carved my own path.”
That path led her to Eastern Kentucky University.
Because she was late to the game, AG flew under the radar with a lot of college coaches. But EKU took notice.
Two years into her collegiate career, the dynamic right-side hitter has helped elevate the Colonels to among the top teams in the Atlantic Sun.
As a sophomore, AG ranks in the top-15 in the conference in kills-per-set (2.82) and sixth in hitting percentage (.322).
Her play sparked EKU to 13 consecutive victories in September, tied for the longest winning streak in program history.
“AG is one of the most selfless players and people on this team,” head coach Johnna Bazzani said. “She truly cares about her teammates and would do anything for them. As a player, AG has an unreal type of athleticism that helps elevate this program and her teammates. When AG is on fire, the team fuels off of her momentum.”
Greg and Kelly Vandagriff are proud of their (soon-to-be) three Division-I student-athletes, playing three different sports, in three different states.
“It’s awesome,” Greg said. “But the bad part is, we can’t watch all of them, all of the time.
“We are thrilled EKU puts the volleyball games on ESPN+. I’ll take my phone to my football games on Friday night. And while we’re warming up, I’m watching AG play on my phone. And then at halftime, I’ll pick up the phone and check the final score.”
That degree of dedication defines the Vandagriffs. They are a tight-knit unit.
And while AG has successfully carved her own path – building a Division-I volleyball career hundreds of miles from home – her heart remains with Team Vandagriff.
“We have always supported each other,” she said. “So when I came to EKU, and I wasn’t able to be there for my family and support them, it was difficult for me. Because that’s always been a big part of my life. That’s been who I am. Not having them with me … I felt like I lost a sense of myself.”
Fortunately, AG has found a second home, and a second family, in Richmond, Kentucky.
“My favorite thing about EKU – something that I’ve really learned to love – is the family atmosphere,” AG said. “I know people tell you that wherever you go – ‘our team’s a family, our team’s a sisterhood.’ But when I say it about EKU, I truly mean it. Because I know, at the end of the day, these girls are going to have my back. The love they have for me is very constant. I don’t have to question it. I can come in the gym, and know that these girls love me. They cherish me as a person outside of my volleyball career. I know my performance on the court is not always going to be constant, but these girls are.”