Megan O’Hara, a Dominion senior, announced in July her commitment to play Division III women’s volleyball at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia as part of the school’s Class of 2021.

O’Hara’s path to playing college volleyball was anything but typical—she’s never played for Dominion’s varsity team—which in many ways underscores her achievements in the sport. In lieu of sporting Titan colors, O’Hara played a stint on USA Volleyball’s High Performance team, which draws athletes from Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.

As a part of the USA Volleyball squad, O’Hara travelled to Iowa to compete in the High Performance national championship and from there was invited to spend a week at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Additionally, O’Hara was recently named to the Junior Volleyball Association’s Beach Watch List.

O’Hara, who started playing volleyball as a sixth grader, knew she wanted to play for a college volleyball team since playing club ball as a freshman. After a big tournament in January, Megan was contacted by CNU, who then along with O’Hara’s coach organized a visit with CNU’s volleyball team and a campus tour. Christopher Newport’s volleyball team has a history of marked success, visiting the NCAA tournament in 13 of the past 15 years and placing three athletes on this year’s American Volleyball Coaches Association All-American teams.

Though she was contacted by recruiters from several schools, O’Hara’s choice of CNU was clear as day. “Everything about the school appealed to me,” O’Hara said. “Academically, I like the small class sizes and the large choice of majors. Athletically, I loved how close the team was and how the coaches cared about each player individually.” O’Hara will enter CNU as an undecided major.