Since the Commonwealth Clash was inaugurated in 2014, the rivalry between Virginia and Virginia Tech has only grown stronger. The two schools go head-to-head in 22 sports annually, and the games between the Cavaliers and the Hokies always have an extra charge. While the more than century-long feud has made it rare to see a student-athlete transfer between the in-state foes, senior Elayna Duprey took the leap last winter.
The outside hitter joined Virginia’s volleyball team from Virginia Tech in January, and she has no reservations about the move. Joined by a few other new players in the spring — Tennessee transfer Kadynce Booth and freshman Zoey Dood — the Cavaliers had plenty of time to work on team chemistry and development in the off-season. With a semester at Virginia under her belt, Duprey is ready to be a key point-scorer for the Cavaliers.
Starting with one of the most important aspects of why she decided to leave, Duprey sees family as a core value in her life. She grew up in Alexandria, Va. and has lived there her entire life. She is very close with her parents and grandmother, who recently moved in with Duprey’s parents and may aim to continue going to as many of Duprey’s volleyball games as possible.
“She’s 98 years old, and just the travel aspect of it as well kind of played a big role in there,” Duprey said in an interview with The Cavalier Daily. “I wanted to be closer to home so that my grandmother was able to come to as many games as she can.”
While her family was part of the reason Duprey transferred, they also played a huge role in her becoming the strong athlete that she is today. Both of Duprey’s parents are collegiate athletes — with her mother having played basketball for North Carolina and her father having played football for Iowa.
While Duprey originally played basketball, she was introduced to volleyball by a couple of friends from her recreational league basketball team. She ultimately ended up focusing the majority of her time on playing college volleyball when she was in high school.
When the time came to apply to universities and find the right fit for Duprey and her volleyball career, Duprey looked to the Hokies. What drew her to Blacksburg was the opportunity to play a new position on the court and to be a part of a competitive conference.
During her time at Virginia Tech, Duprey continued to rise to the occasion as both a player and team leader, ending her junior season with the Hokies with 222 kills, the most out of any player on the team. However, over time, Virginia Tech did not feel as much like home to Duprey as it did when she first started playing for them.
“That place, Virginia Tech … it just didn’t feel like home for me anymore, and a lot of other things in my life had changed,” Duprey said. “My love for Virginia Tech just started to disconnect somewhere, and it just didn’t feel the same as when I first came to the program.”
So Duprey decided to enter the transfer portal with a couple of requirements in mind — her new school had to be in a competitive conference and not too far from home. That is when she got the offer to play with the Cavaliers, a school hours closer to Alexandria — and not just in the same conference as the Hokies, but also their fiercest rival.
Although many would be fearful of transferring to a school that has consistently been in competition with their old university, Duprey saw that as an invitation to try something new and step up. She is not afraid to face her old teammates on the other side of the net.
“I’m kind of in a ‘bring it on’ mentality,” Duprey said. “Like obviously, a bunch of my friends are still on that team, and … when I first transferred, I was like — oh wait. Like, I’ll have to play them again. But it’s sort of like … I just want to see how we’ve gone toe for toe, improvement for improvement.”
Furthermore, Duprey has felt that the people at Virginia have made it easier for her to adjust not just to a new team, but also to a new school. She feels like she has entered a welcoming environment that is already challenging her to be a better player.
“When I first came here, I was very nervous, mostly because I came from the rival school … so just kind of coming into that warm, loving environment, just kind of caught me by surprise,” Duprey said.
Duprey will be able to see firsthand how much her work assimilating into the team will pay off with the first tournament for Virginia rapidly approaching Friday in Norfolk, Va. Pushing herself to have a great senior season will almost certainly be worth it, and Cavalier fans can look forward to watching her rise to the top with her ferocious kills.
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