By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

For Madison Lewis, one of the joys of playing in her home gym at LaGrange High was the knowledge that she would always have a great support system.

During home matches, Lewis had friends and family members there to support her, and her father Scott Lewis is an assistant coach on the LaGrange team.

Those same folks will be able to watch Lewis play for the next four seasons as a member of the LaGrange College volleyball team.

Lewis has earned a spot on the LaGrange College team, and she celebrated that fact during a ceremony in the school last week.

All of those closest to Lewis, including her family members, friends, teammates and coaches, were on hand to enjoy the moment with her.

“I’m really excited, especially because a lot of my friends and family will still get to come and watch,” Lewis said.

Lewis was a standout player for LaGrange, and she earned plenty of individual accolades while leading the team to back-to-back appearances in the state tournament.

“She’s done a great job for us on the court,” LaGrange coach Angie Newton said. “She was an awesome setter. She was a very good leader to everybody last year, and she helped a lot of the younger kids, too.”

One of Lewis’ proudest and staunchest supporters is her father, who has been coaching her for about six years.

Lewis is an assistant coach at LaGrange High, and he also coaches his daughter in travel volleyball for the Columbus Tsunami program.

“I am so relieved, and so blessed, that I was able to spend this time with you,” Scott Lewis said as he introduced his daughter during this week’s ceremony.

Scott Lewis began coaching his daughter when she got serious about the sport.

“He’s been coaching me since I was 12, or 13,” Madison Lewis said. “I started pursuing it more and realized it’s totally my thing.”

Madison Lewis will look back on her time at LaGrange High fondly, and she said “getting to represent and be a Granger, and doing something I love is so exciting.”

Lewis joins a LaGrange College program that is coming off back-to-back winning seasons.

Last fall, LaGrange College went 14-13 under first-year head coach Madison Machurek.

“It’s a growing program, which is what I love about it,” Lewis said. “I’ll get to help grow it.”

Lewis’ teammates at LaGrange High were a part of the ceremony last week, and she told them “thank you for putting up with me and probably yelling at you way too much.”

“Getting to represent my school with y’all has been super fun and awesome,” she added. “And to my friends, thanks for always coming to my games, and accepting that I can’t come because I have volleyball, because that happens a lot.”

Newton, who has been coached Lewis for the past four seasons, is grateful she’s staying in LaGrange.

“I’m glad to see her stay close to home,” Newton said. “I think that’ll be fun for her parents to still support her, and her family and friends can still support her.”

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