Missy Pierce Huffman became the first SU volleyball player to finish as a four-time All-PSAC performer. Her indelible career as an outside hitter included her status as the third player in school history to record at least 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs, and to this day she remains among the Top 6 players in three major statistical categories.
Overall, Huffman ranks fifth in school history with 1,274 career kills, third in school history with 1,902 career digs, and sixth in school history with 166 career service aces. She also finished with 137 total blocks over the course of 130 career matches.
Huffman remains one of just eight players in school history to achieve the 1,000/1,000 milestone, and has the most career digs of any of the eight players to achieve the feat.
Huffman earned All-PSAC First Team honors as a sophomore in 2004 and as a senior in 2006. She earned All-PSAC Second Team honors as a freshman in 2003 and as a junior in 2005. Her 536 digs as a junior in 2005 rank ninth in SU single-season history. As a sophomore, Huffman totaled 379 kills and 512 digs – including a career-high 29 kills and a school-record 39 digs in a five-set win at West Chester. Her 29 kills rank fifth in a single match at Shippensburg, while her 39 digs rank fourth all-time.
Huffman’s senior season included career highs of 411 kills, 50 service aces and a .237 hitting percentage. She posted a career-high 20 double-doubles with kills and digs that season, and finished her career with 56 double-doubles.
Following her playing career, Huffman remained with the program as an assistant coach for one season. She earned her elementary education degree in 2007. While at Shippensburg, Huffman was active in the education major and volunteered for numerous activities and projects involving the Make-a-Wish Foundation, Make a Child Smile, and Relay for Life.
She returned to her native Illinois and served as an assistant coach with the eighth-grade volleyball team at the school in which she earned the requirements for a teaching certificate in her home state. She later earned her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction and a concentration in common core mathematics standards.
For more than a decade, Huffman has been a sixth-grade mathematics teacher in Minooka, Illinois. She is married to former Raider Track & Field athlete Steve Huffman, and the couple are the proud parents of two boys.
