The process of selecting a college is challenging for any high school student, and especially for student-athletes.

The tense days spent trying to find a college that fits both athletically and academically can seem unbearable.

C.B. Aycock’s Audrey Dail is certainly glad that her wait is over.

The senior signed a national letter of intent to play volleyball at Pitt Community College on Monday.

Dail said that she took into account the familiarity she has with the Bulldogs’ volleyball program when making her college choice.

“I’m glad to be taking this new step and to see where it brings me,” Dail said. “I knew about Pitt because the coach reached out to me, and I know some of the girls on the team.

“I think it was a really good fit.”

Dail started playing volleyball in the third grade. She played multiple sports when she was younger, but volleyball was the sport she fell in love with.

She played on the Golden Falcons’ junior varsity team as a freshman and joined the varsity roster as a sophomore.

It did not take long for Dail to soar on the volleyball court. She racked up an astounding 335 digs, 69 assists and 59 aces during her sophomore and junior seasons.

Thanks in part to Dail’s strong play on the court, C.B. Aycock reached the playoffs during her sophomore and junior seasons.

C.B. Aycock also won the Wayne County Volleyball Classic during her junior season.

Despite all of that success, Dail continually looks for ways to improve her game and help her teammates.

“Audrey is very talented and coachable,” C.B. Aycock head coach Kimberly Hughes said. “She takes constructive criticism very well. I could ask her to help anybody, and she would do it, and she would spend as much time as I needed her to.”

Dail said this season was certainly different because of the COVID-19 pandemic but added she was happy to get the chance to play volleyball during her senior year of high school.

“It was really sad to learn our season was almost canceled, but we fought through it,” Dail said. “Volleyball is my coping method, and it lets me be myself.

“The girls are like my second family.”

Off the volleyball court, Dail plans to major in radiology.