LOUISIANA La. — As a young girl growing up in Brazil, everyone around Priscilla Lima knew that she would one day be a volleyball star.
And although she didn’t begin to play the sport of volleyball until she was 15 years old, Lima proved everyone correct.
Lima starred for the University of Louisiana's volleyball team from 1999 until 2002, recording the fifth most kills and digs in school history with 1,179 and 1,187, respectively.
With her collegiate volleyball career over and done with, Lima then turned her attention toward her next goal — earning a college degree in America, which she did this past May.
Now Lima has returned her focus back to volleyball, but this time as a professional beach player on a pro tour.
“I’m trying to get on the pro tour,” said Lima, who has run volleyball clinics at Beach Volleyball on Moss Street to help fund her trips. “Ever since I began playing volleyball I have dreamed of playing beach volleyball professionally. The only reason why I didn’t earlier was because I was playing in college.”
Lima participated in a four-man beach volleyball tournament in Destin, Fla., where she received what she called “an opportunity of a lifetime.”
“It was a tournament just for fun,” Lima said. “But afterwards a lady named Mary Hegarty asked if I wanted to be her partner. She told me that I didn’t have to worry about anything except my flight. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I said OK.”
Lima and the 42-year-old Hegarty’s first tournament was in San Diego, Calif. where in order to garner one of the four to six open spots in the tournament, they needed five victories.
“We lost in the third round of that tournament,” Lima said. “We were seeded third to last in that tournament, so we knew it was going to be tough.”
In their next tournament, the Belmar Open in New Jersey, where they needed only three victories to qualify for the tourney, Lima and Hegarty pulled it out by winning their first three matches.
“I was extremely excited when we got into the tournament,” Lima said. “I always wanted this type of opportunity, but I never really knew how to go about getting in. But it felt good to get in.”
That marked the final tournament in which the tandem would participate together, because the 24-year-old Lima received a better offer from a player with a higher ranking in 28-year-old Kerrie Eich.
“Kerrie had more points and by playing with her I knew that the bracket wouldn’t be as tough,” Lima said. “It was really nice of Mary to ask me to play with her, but I’m trying to get my name out there as quickly as possible.”
In their first tournament together, Lima and Eich were seeded 16th, and after winning their first three matches in the qualifier rounds, they qualified for the Hermosa Beach Open in California. Lima and Eich lost their opening match, but rebounded with a victory in the loser’s bracket before being ousted in their next match.
“We trained and worked together for a week,” Lima said. “I was very excited to be seeded 16th in that tournament. To say that it was our first time playing together, I’d say we did well.”
Lima and Eich will look to build on what they accomplished in California this week when they leave for the Chicago Open in Illinois.
“I’m anxious,” Lima said. “Of course I want to win and make it to the main tournament, but I really just want to play well.”
Priscilla Lima
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