When Salem College completed the 2020 fall semester, four student-athletes earned their degrees in the process. Those four individuals included Callie Adams (soccer), Kathryn O'Connell (volleyball), Anna Schneider (volleyball) and Morgan Scholz (tennis).
Callie Adams: Callie Adams earned her Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. Adams took the field on 25 occasions, making 20 starts along the way, for the Salem soccer team. She is responsible for three goals and one assists (seven points), nine shots, five shots on goal and one game-winning goal in her two seasons at Salem.
In the classroom, Adams has also made her presence felt, earning at least a 3.3 GPA, which resulted in a spot on the USA South All-Academic Team in 2019-20. She was one of 14 Salem soccer players to accomplish that feat.
The Amarillo, Texas, native joined the Salem program after being named as a First Team All-Region performer in 2016 and 2017 at Randall High School. In her first season with the Spirits, she netted one goal on two shots and started 12 of 17 matches. Her first collegiate goal came in a 3-2 setback to Mt. St. Joseph on September 3. Adams play on the field helped Salem to earn 13 victories, including six in USA South play, as the Spirits defense limited opponents to 1.02 goals per match.
Adams followed that up by starting all 18 matches as a sophomore, closing with one assist, which came against N.C. Wesleyan on October 6. Heading into her junior season it was obvious that Adams would be an opening day starter for the Salem defense, but her ankle injury limited Adams to just seven matches, the first of which came at N.C. Wesleyan on October 12.
Her return to the field was complete when she drove home one of eight goals for the Spirits in a decisive 8-2 triumph over Mary Baldwin on October 26. Adams followed that by scoring the first goal of the game, off a rebound by teammate Alyssa Denkovich, in the quarterfinals of the USA South Conference Tournament against Piedmont. She capitalized on that performance by making her second start of the game in the semifinal clash with Maryville.
Kathryn O'Connell: Kathryn O'Connell received three degrees from Salem, including her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry, Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry and a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics. At the close of the 2019 volleyball season, O'Connell finished as the team leader in six major statistical categories including kills (271—1st), kills / set (2.66—1st), solo blocks (27—1st), assisted blocks (66—1st), total blocks (93—1st) and blocks / set (0.91—1st). Additionally, she was among the Top-5 in five other categories including digs (297—2nd), digs / set (2.91—2nd), total attacks (726—2nd), attack percentage (.216—2nd) and service aces (28—4th). As a result, she earned USA South Second Team East Division honors alongside teammate Taylor Moulton.
O'Connell's on-court contributions to the Salem volleyball program are well documented as she ranks among the Top-10 in nine career statistical categories including first in assisted blocks (207), first in blocks per set (0.85), second in total blocks (274), second in hitting percentage (.241), third in solo blocks (67), fourth in service aces (100), fifth in career kills (658), fifth in total attacks (1738) and ninth in kills per set (2.04).
The Harrisburg, N.C., was one of five players on the Salem roster to top 100 kills in 2019 as the unit tallied 1,154 total kills, marking the third-most in program history. Individually, she managed double-digit kills in 16 of 28 matches, notching a single-match season-high 14 in clashes with USA South foes Mary Baldwin (Sept. 28) and Greensboro (Nov. 5).
O'Connell ended her junior slate by eclipsing double figure digs in 19 matches, coming through with a single-match season-high 21 in a four-set win over N.C. Wesleyan (Oct. 5). She posted 12 double-doubles over the course of the season, including six between Oct. 1 and Nov. 5. She also made her presence felt on Salem's front row, posting at least multiple solo blocks on nine occasions, including a four-block outing against Greensboro (Oct. 5). The best of her 16 multi-assisted-block performances came versus both Piedmont International (Sept. 17) and Emory & Henry (Nov. 3), where she tallied seven apiece.
Combined with her performance in the classroom—where O'Connell posted a 3.98 GPA in Biochemistry during the 2019 fall semester—she was the lone representative from USA South Conference program to earn a spot on the 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-District Team.
Anna Schneider: Anna Schneider earned a Bachelor of Arts in business administration with a concentration in marketing and communications from Salem. Schneider was one of three seniors on head coach Bouaketh Chanthavisouk's Salem volleyball squad for the 2020-21 season.
Schneider will be remembered for her 5-foot-11 frame gliding through the air to defend the net as she did in 2019—where she ranked second in solo blocks (19), assisted blocks (42), total blocks (53) and blocks per set (0.55). She was also active on offense, finishing fifth in kills (115), kills per set (1.20) and total attacks (417) for the Spirits.
The Fort Thomas, Kentucky, native earned a spot on the 2019 USA South Conference All-Sportsmanship Team, joining Taylor Moulton and classmate Kathryn O'Connell among Spirits honored with postseason awards by the league.
Schneider managed at least three total blocks in 10 of Salem's 28 matches in 2019. She established her single-match season-high, five total blocks, in a September 28 clash with William Peace, helping Salem claim a 3-0 win in the process. Schneider equaled that mark on Nov. 3 at Emory & Henry, but the Wasps prevailed in four sets.
On offense, Schneider saw drastic improvements in her third season at Salem, topping 100 kills in a season for the first time in her career. She tallied a minimum of four kills in 15 matches, helping Salem to its third-most team kills (1,154) in program history.
Schneider came through with a series of eight-kill performances against Piedmont International (Sept. 17), Averett (Oct. 1) and N.C. Wesleyan (Oct. 5) in the early portion of the slate. However, her nine-kill outing on Oct. 22, which resulted in a .333 hitting percentage, established a new single-match career-high in kills.
In addition to her contributions on the court, Schneider also makes an impact in the classroom with at least 3.9 GPA. She was one of 46 Salem student-athletes to earn a spot on the USA South Academic All-Conference list.
Morgan Scholz: Morgan Scholz completed her Bachelor of Arts in religion degree at the end of the fall semester. In 2019-20, Scholz split her two singles matches as the No. 3 seed to finish 1-1 on the slate. She also posted a 2-1 mark in doubles play alongside Haley Gilley, all which came as the No. 2 seed.
Scholz opened her junior season with a 6-4, 6-4 (10-5) setback against Hailee Green (Ferrum) on Sept. 27. She grabbed her only singles win (6-3, 6-1) in a triumph over Alexis Morring (Hollins) on Oct. 5. Scholz took to the court against Southern Virginia (Sept. 22) and teamed with Gilley to face Audrey McBride and Natalie Tetteron, suffering an 8-3 setback. She then joined Gilley on Sept. 27 to defeat the Ferrum tandem of Jordan Thompson and Madison Wright by an 8-5 margin. Scholz posted an 8-3 victory, with Gilley as a teammate, against the Hollins pairing of Hannah Pardue and Claire Rogers (Oct. 5).
After not competing in any matches as a freshman, Scholz played in one doubles match, alongside teammate Carmen Wilkins on Oct. 7, 2018 as a junior. The duo suffered an 8-1 setback to Teessa Johnston / Cailie Pollard (Emory & Henry) in the process.