“Criminal Minds” is must-see TV for Mother McAuley’s Abbey Williams.
The senior outside hitter loves the show, which deals with a group of FBI agents from the behavioral analysis unit that use profiling to solve murders and catch the bad guys.
Williams, who wants to study criminology and criminal justice in college, hopes to become an FBI agent in the future, so she’s fascinated by the chess-like thinking employed by the show.
“It’s so interesting with all of the things that happen, and it’s not boring,” said Williams, who has committed to NCAA Division II Gannon. “I feel like I would be a good person for that type of job.”
Williams also uses her brains on the court. She helped her teammates finish third in the ASICS Challenge, a tournament hosted by McAuley that features strong teams from across the nation.
Notre Dame Academy from Kentucky beat Skutt Catholic of Nebraska 25-18, 25-16 in Saturday’s championship match. McAuley finished third with a 25-20, 25-19 victory over archrival Marist.
That was a rematch from Sept. 26, which the Mighty Macs also won 26-24, 25-23 at Marist.
Memphis recruit Sydney Buchanan, a senior outside hitter for McAuley, was the lone area standout to make the all-tournament team. She complimented Williams for mixing up her shots.
“Abbey is just so smart,” Williams said. “That is something, I don’t want to say that I don’t have, but I feel like having that gives us a really good balance. She always knows where to hit.
“It’s something that is so cool. She just naturally has it. She’s so good.”
In the third-place match against the RedHawks, Buchanan was so good with eight kills for McAuley (19-3). Peyton Heatherly came up with 16 assists and Lucy Maloney had 11 digs.
Northwestern commit Bella Bullington paced Marist (18-8) with nine kills. She returned to the lineup for the tournament after missing most of the season with an oblique injury.
Savanah Weathers added five kills against the Mighty Macs and Maddie Berry had 16 assists.
Williams, meanwhile, enjoys showing different looks to the opposing defenses.
“I definitely think of myself as someone who can roll shot or tip,” she said. “Sydney is definitely one of our killers, but I like to change up my shots. I also like to play in the right-back position and put away balls from there, especially when we are down.
“It’s kind of hard to hit from the back, so I work on that.”
Likewise, Mighty Macs coach Jen DeJarld praised Williams’ versatility.
“Abbey has a lot of good tools in the toolbox,” DeJarld said of Williams. “She places the ball well and is a good, all-around skill player.”
Although Williams didn’t pick up any aces in the third-place match, she was at the line to set the tone as the Mighty Macs grabbed a quick 5-0 lead.
“Our serving has been tough,” DeJarld said. “And Abbey is our best server.”
Williams also is a shortstop and top hitter for the softball team. Even though she gave up travel softball before high school to concentrate on club volleyball, she still likes playing softball for fun.
As a freshman, however, she said she was impressed with the state volleyball championship banners on the wall of the gym. She didn’t let them intimidate her, though.
“I looked at the banners and said, ‘That could be me, too,’” she said. “It was like fuel to the fire.”
Williams has helped put two more banners on the wall in 2022 and 2023, with the latter now blocking the part of a window.
“We’re running out of room for all of them,” she joked.
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
