Sabrina Mangapora | Canfield volleyball

There’s more to Sabrina Mangapora than volleyball or basketball. A 1,000-point scorer in both sports, her real accomplishments come off the court. Mangapora sports a 3.9 grade point average, is President of National Honor Society is a member of Y-Teens and Key Club. A popular face around Canfield High, she’ll soon be a small fish in a big pond at Ball State.

“I’m kind of interested to see how I deal with it, to be honest,” Mangapora admits. “It will be different, but I know that I have an awesome support group behind me and I’ll be fine.”

The process of a college search was “really chaotic, hectic and, of course, stressful,” she says. She not only had to pick a school, but pick a sport. Division I basketball programs were also after her, but Mangapora chose her first love since sixth grade.

“The visits helped me decide what I really wanted to do,” she said. “They do go out of their way to appeal to you. Going to different games and seeing different people play at different levels made the decision easier. It’s a very competitive program that plays other top schools. Ball State feels a lot like Canfield because it’s not too big or too small.”

The same colors, logo and mascot may have something to do with it, too.

Mangapora leaves Canfield as the school’s leader in kills and guided the Cardinals to their first regional final appearance.

“I’m glad that we were able to make the best of it,” she said. “We lost a lot of seniors, but we were able to come together and say, ‘Look we have as much talent as we need to.’ We made it the farthest any Canfield team has gone.”

She plans to major in pre-med.