In the 2023 Sun Belt Tournament opening round with Georgia Southern clinging onto a two-point lead and a 2-1 match lead over Arkansas State, disaster struck for freshman phenom outside hitter Reagan Barth and the Eagles.

Up 17-15 in the fourth set, with the mindset of pursuing every ball instilled into her, Barth took an awkward dive for a ball near the scorer's table, and in her words, immediately knew something was wrong.

On the dive, her shoulder had popped out of place, and while she did not know it was a torn labrum at the time, slowly rolled over, popped the shoulder back in and walked off the court.

"It just felt like my shoulder was hanging there, and something felt off," Barth said. "LA [Phillips], our trainer, helped me process everything behind the curtains. I didn't want to spend too much time back there because I wanted to be with my team."

If you stopped her season at that point, it was already one that anyone in their first season would have loved to have; well on her way to all-conference honors, 337 kills, 211 digs and one of the best freshmen seasons in program history.

While the shoulder hurt too much to play the next day against South Alabama, Barth knew her team would be fine in that game - even in a loss via a sweep, the team battled the Jags for two of the three sets.

"It didn't set in until the [first] game was over, and I thought I was going to be able to come back," she said. "It was a bummer that I had to sit that one out. I focused on being a great teammate from the sidelines knowing that my team would be fine without me."

It was a big blow, but Barth, ever the competitor, fought hard to get back out there. Convenient timing allowed her to gather herself and attempt a comeback as the team had the week off for Thanksgiving before its first NIVC berth in program history.

Barth recalled conversations with the coaching staff on the next steps. Running off of what she described as pure adrenaline, she didn't need any protection due to the injury.

Labrum injuries can be tricky to come back from, especially when the athlete attempts to do what caused the injury again, which the sophomore remarked was a big hurdle to clear.

"Mainly, it was just the mental block of diving, and I didn't talk a whole lot about that with the coaches," she said. "It was an elephant in the room that wasn't addressed, which was probably for the better. The more I talked about it, the more I likely would have veered away from diving. There was always that thought of [my shoulder] popping out again as I dove, but once I got back out on the court, those worries went away."

The team would need her services. Engaging in what would be a grind of a five-set battle with Winthrop the Eagles came out on top in, one of the longest matches the team played all season, Barth recorded five kills on 25 attempts, a shade less than her gaudy numbers from the regular season.
 

After sitting out the East Carolina game, Barth added another 11 kills and six digs and hit .340 in the team's eventual NIVC loss to USF, cementing a stellar freshman campaign in the blue & white. She finished with 353 kills, 224 digs, 40 aces and a spot on the All-Sun Belt First Team, a year that she will fondly remember.

"I really had no expectations [for my first season]," Barth said. "Going into the year, I had no idea how we were going to finish or what the team would look like, I was just along for the ride. Any of the individual or team accolades were just a bonus. It was so much fun to experience [collegiate volleyball] for the first time and love the sport all over again."

What followed in the offseason was a long recovery after surgery to build back to where she is today, working hard at whatever she could do during the incremental building process.

"The question was always, 'How can I get back as fast as possible without rushing it?" during the process," Barth said. "The training staff and coaches helped a ton during the rehab process and through all those late nights in the gym."

The sophomore did not participate in the team's spring matches but has been back in action since the team returned from summer break and has looked none worse for the wear. It took a long time to get to that point for Barth, who is grateful for the support she has received from everyone in the program.

"I'm feeling pretty confident. I haven't had too many issues in the past month," she said. "I've been working with LA. We have a great support staff and coaching staff, and my teammates are the best people ever. It means everything to me that I have all the support in the world. I'm so blessed that I can play again with only a few issues here and there."

As the team gets set to embark on what it hopes to be a great 2024 season, Barth earned preseason All-Sun Belt honors and the Eagles were placed third in the east division in the preseason poll.

"[The accolades] are validating, but I think a lot of people are going to be surprised how deep we are as a team and how versatile we are on the pins and in the middle," she said. "We're ready to surprise people."

The accolades are nice, but the team is focused on finishing the job this season as it begins an early-season schedule that features teams such as Florida, Auburn and Clemson, who Barth acknowledged would be tough matchups.

"As a team, our standard and our expectation is to win as many matches as possible and make the tournament at the end of the year," she said. "We're all focused on that, and we're all on the same page. I think we're all tough enough and willing to do whatever it takes to get there."

Down the line, two Sun Belt powers are on the schedule in Coastal Carolina and James Madison, who the Eagles have yet to solve in their quest to get over the hump in the conference. The team has recognized the task at hand when matching up with those two NCAA Tournament teams this season.

"We're a well-rounded and deep team, so I don't think we have any issues of matching up with teams like that physically," Barth said. "Those games will be a mental grind. We have to go in knowing there will be a lot of those five-set battles, whoever can stick it out the longest. We're getting 1% better every day both mentally and physically. I think that's going to help shift that mindset from asking if we are good enough physically to be good enough mentally."

It was a long road to get back to where she was last year, but Barth and the Eagles are ready to take on the challenges 2024 will present.