Russellville High School senior signs to play volleyball for MUW
High School Sports, Russellville Golden Tigers, Sports, Z - News Main, Z - TOP HOME
 By  Brannon King Published 
4:25 pm Thursday, February 29, 2024

Russellville High School senior signs to play volleyball for MUW

Russellville High School senior Avery Watts became the most recent member of the Golden Tigers to sign to play sports at the next level during a celebration held Feb. 21.

Watts made her plans to play volleyball for the Mississippi University for Women Owls official during the signing ceremony. Along with being a standout volleyball player at RHS, Watts excels academically, and, among other pursuits at RHS, plays basketball and is a member of the track team. She has a cumulative weighted GPA of 5.0 and takes six AP courses. Watts is also the Bryant-Jordan award winner for RHS, the area and region and will be heading to Birmingham for the state banquet.

“It’s so special because I’ve been waiting for this day for so long,” Watts shared about the signing day. “I’ve been dreaming about this day and playing collegiate volleyball and I’m just so excited for it to finally come true.”

Watts has created many memories while playing at RHS, and she shared one of her favorites. “The friendships and memories that I’ve made are so special to me and I’ll never forget them. Mainly just playing with all of my friends and leaving it all out on the court.”

MUW, a coeducational institution, is a NCAA Division III member located in Columbus. “When I went down there to visit, everybody was just so nice and helpful and that just made me feel really at home,” Watts said. “Since it’s two hours away from home, it was important to me to make the campus feel like a home.”

First-year RHS volleyball head coach Will White had many complimentary things to say about Watts including the example she has set for others coming up through the program, her ability to move to the important outside hitter position during her senior season and her role as a leader on the team. “Avery is somebody that we will talk about for years,” White said. “Just the work ethic, her attitude and she’s a brilliant young lady with such an academic mind that is so smart. My only regret is that I didn’t have her for four years.”

Also on Franklin County Times
Educators update states of their schools
Main, News, Russellville, ...
María Camp maria.camp@franklincountytimes.com 
November 19, 2025
RUSSELLVILLE — Local educators and community members gathered Thursday at Tharptown High School for the seventh annual State of the Schools program. T...
Dowdy guilty in dog mauling deaths
Main, News, Russellville, ...
By Brady Petree For the FCT 
November 19, 2025
RUSSELLVILLE — A Franklin County jury found Brandy Dowdy guilty of one count of manslaughter and one count of criminally negligent homicide after more...
Youth sports policy aims at bad conduct
Main, News, Red Bay, ...
By Brady Petree For the FCT 
November 19, 2025
RED BAY — Over the course of his 14 years coaching youth league sports, Torrey Lewey has noticed a plethora of changes, one of which includes a tenden...
West sings national anthem for Special Olympics
News, Russellville, Russellville Golden Tigers
María Camp maria.camp@franklincountytimes.com 
November 19, 2025
RUSSELLVILLE — Russellville High School senior Elijah West sang the national anthem at this year’s Special Olympics, marking his second time to perfor...
Garden club learns about poppy symbolism
Columnists, Opinion
HERE AND NOW
November 19, 2025
We began our November Cultura Garden Club meeting with a hands-on rock-painting activity led by muralist Ree Shannon of aRo Art & Design Concepts. Ree...
Electricity prices are soaring, and coal is a key solution
Columnists, Opinion
November 19, 2025
Electricity bills are climbing almost everywhere, and the reasons have little to do with ideology. Three forces are driving prices higher: massive new...
PCHS opens with 3 wins
High School Sports, Phil Campbell Bobcats, Sports
Bart Moss For the FCT 
November 19, 2025
The Phil Campbell Bobcats reeled of three straight basketball wins to open the season, beating Tharptown, Winston County and Cherokee. The Bobcats ope...
Young Lady Tigers still in building stage
High School Sports, Red Bay Tigers, Sports
By Brady Petree For the FCT 
November 19, 2025
While most coaches have their hands full managing one team, John Torisky once again returns to coach the Lady Tigers as well — giving him twice the am...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *