This season, senior Sam Buckley has solidified her place among the best WashU volleyball players of all time. (Tamiah Woodfork | Contributing Photographer)

When WashU volleyball head coach Vanessa Walby first met Sam Buckley, she immediately noticed one thing about Buckley besides her talent on the court: her competitive spirit. 

“When we worked with her firsthand, we saw her competitive spirit, and she asked really good questions,” Walby said. “We liked how ‘spicy’ she was, and her mindset. And we really liked how much she wanted to win.” 

Four years later, Buckley’s competitiveness has made her one of Division III’s best volleyball players. The WashU senior is one of only three players in program history to tally over 2,500 career assists and 1,000 career digs and is on track to put herself into WashU’s record books for single season assists. 

Over the past four years, Walby has come to know Buckley as one of the team’s key leaders. Despite being one of the best players in WashU volleyball history, Buckley leads with a humble attitude and strong work ethic. Buckley has led the No. 10 WashU volleyball team to a 14-3 record this season and three consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament.

“As much credit as she gets from a lot of other people, [Buckley] is probably the most humble person I have ever met,” Walby said. “She gets a lot of eyes on her all the time … but she wants to get in, do her job, make other people better, and go home.”  

Buckley has been no stranger to accolades throughout her career. In her first-year season, she won American Volleyball Coaches Association Freshman of the Year. Buckley has been named to the All-UAA (University Athletic Association) First Team every season of her WashU career, and most recently was named UAA Athlete of the Week on Oct. 28, lapping visiting teams in assists and sitting second in assists-per-set in all of D-III. 

“It’s definitely an honor,” Buckley said about surpassing both marks. “These are kind of stats that accumulate if you’ve been playing since freshman year and also we’ve played a lot of matches and sets, so it’s kind of expected at some point, but it’s definitely an honor.”

WashU first appeared on Buckley’s radar when family and friends suggested she apply, and she attended an elite camp — a common way for coaches and recruits to get to know one another.

Buckley was drawn to WashU by its competitive volleyball program that has won 10 national titles as well as a strong business school. The senior is pursuing both her undergraduate degree and masters in accounting and hopes to pursue a career in accounting after graduation. Once she arrived at the Field House, it was evident she would become an integral part of the team.

“She made an immediate impact,” Walby said. “We had three setters her freshman year, and she really worked hard in her freshman year to make that impact right away.”

Buckley immediately began putting up numbers in her first year in St. Louis. As a first-year, she averaged 10.57 assists per set,led the team with 1,289 assists, and was fifth on the team in total digs with almost 300. In her sophomore season, Buckley continued to lead the team in assists with 1,284 and moved up to the third most digs on the team with 355.

Entering her junior season, Buckley continued increasing her dominance on the court with 1,472 assists, putting her just shy of the top-10 single season assists in program history and third on the team with 313 digs. In 2024, Buckley had over 50 assists in six matches with the most, 63, coming in a September matchup against Case Western. In 2024, only seven opponents put up over 50 assists against the Bears.

In fact, in her four years at WashU, Buckley has always tallied at least 20 assists in each match. In her last two seasons, she has never tallied under 29.

Through Oct. 12, Buckley has tallied the second most assists in D-III at 857 and averaged 10.85 assists per set — the third best in the nation. She has also earned over 50 assists in four games this season with her season high of 64 against Simpson College on Sept. 20.

Throughout her four years in St. Louis, Buckley has grown into an increasingly important leader on the team. In her senior season, she has used her role to motivate younger players and build up their confidence on the court. Buckley has created her leadership style by drawing from former leaders on WashU’s team like Michaela Bach and Jasmine Sells while putting a twist on what it means to lead one of WashU’s most historic programs. 

“I’m really trying to incorporate their grit and their passion into leading with my own twist,” she said.

Throughout her time at WashU and on the volleyball team, Buckley has worked hard to perfect her leadership abilities. According to Buckley, during her junior year she began to focus on ensuring her body language was “positive no matter what the score is.” 

She also realized that she could use her position on the team to encourage others to become better through her work ethic and focus on perfecting all aspects of her game.

“I think she’s a good kid,” Walby said. “I think she has good strong morals, good values, good work ethic, but I think she’s taken more people with her along with that. I think the only way programs get better is if you have people who want to make other people better.”

Off the court, Buckley has been involved with WashU’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) where she is in her second year as treasurer and is a member of SAAC’s strategy team.

“It’s a great group of people,” Buckley said about SAAC. “[They] are all very hard working individuals who care about both school and their teams. … It’s so great”

Sam Buckley has etched her name in the WashU record books, but she has yet to advance past the second round of the NCAA tournament. In her final season, Buckley hopes to take the team further. Buckley and the No. 10 Bears have their hopes set on making the national championship game.

“I would love to win [the national championship] and the UAA Championship,” Buckley said. “That would be the biggest thing ever so really just those two things would be phenomenal.”

Walby echoed Buckley’s sentiment of how meaningful a conference title and deep post-season run would be for Buckley.

“She’s among the elite with WashU but I think no matter how many accolades she wins, … she would give all of it up if we would just win the big one,” Walby said. “She really is selfless with a lot that she does and she wants to win a conference title really bad and she wants to get to the Elite Eight and put our team in a really good situation.”