At her signing ceremony, Caroline Lucas (center) is joined by two Pickens High volleyball legends. Peggy Anthony (left), who coached Lucas early in her club volleyball career, won nine state championships as a coach at Pickens High, and her daughter, Nikki, who has coached Lucas for the past four years on the Pickens Carolina One 18 Elite volleyball team, won four state championships as a player at Pickens.
Courtesy photo
PICKENS — Caroline Lucas, a 6-foot middle hitter/blocker who helped lead the Pickens High Lady Blue Flame volleyball team to the 2021 AAAA state championship, recently signed a national letter of intent to continue her volleyball career with Francis Marion University in Florence. She will enroll at Francis Marion this fall.
Lucas, daughter of Greg and Angela Lucas of Easley, will join former Lady Blue Flame teammate and current Francis Marion Patriot Kaylee Gillespie at the Florence school.
“Caroline is a quiet leader,” said Rikki Owens, Pickens High Lady Blue Flame volleyball coach. “When her younger teammates were frustrated, she would gently whisper, ‘We got this,’ and pat them on the back. What seemed like a small gesture from Caroline to her teammates were in fact immensely powerful moments between her and her team.”
Lucas is a two-time All-Region and All-State selection and was chosen to play in the 2021 North-South Match. This past fall, she averaged 2.2 kills per set with a .260 attack percentage. She also totaled 54 service aces and 29 blocks. She concluded her prep career with 401 kills.
“As a four-sport athlete at Pickens High (volleyball, swimming, basketball, and track), Caroline brings a type of athleticism to our middle position that we have yet to see,” said Francis Marion volleyball Coach Lauren Baufield-Edwards. “She comes from a winning background and only expects to win. That type of mentality will help to continue to push our program forward to our underlying goal – winning. Caroline is an impressive middle who has a very strong arm, and when she puts herself in a great position to swing, it is always a kill. Over the course of her collegiate years here at Francis Marion, she will really add to the core of our middle position and blocking.”