BERNIE -- Bernie senior Cymber Arnold's choice to play volleyball at John A. Logan College was about more than the sport.
Arnold plans to major in environmental engineering, and she was concerned the class load would be too much for her to continue playing volleyball.
"(Logan head coach Bill Burnside) worked really hard to get me a good academic plan that matched up with my engineering because I was worried that playing volleyball and taking the classes would be too hard to even play, and he worked really hard to get it matched up."
Arnold, a four-year starter at Bernie, was a member of two district championship teams. She helped the Mules reach the state quarterfinals this year and place third at state in her freshman season. Bernie averaged 20 wins a season during her high school career. Burnside likes Arnold's athleticism and versatility.
"She plays very big for her size," Burnside said. "When I first saw her play, I thought that she was 5-9, 5-10, and she came in and tried out with our girls, and I realized she was about 5-7. It really doesn't matter how tall you are as long as you play athletically, which she really does well."
Bernie coach Jason Long believes that Arnold has the ability and attitude needed to be a successful college athlete.
"She's an excellent player. She was certainly one of the best players in southeast Missouri this year," Long said. "More than that, she's tough. She's hard-working. She's real mature. She's a great teammate. She enjoys trying to improve. She enjoys trying to figure out what she needs to do to make herself better, and she has a really good work ethic. She has a great attitude, and she's also a very focused individual. I think she brings a lot of positive things."
Arnold was a middle hitter during her junior year and moved to outside hitter last season.
"I'm hoping she'll be an outside hitter for us in the future," Burnside said. "Now whether we'll need that (from her) as a freshman, I mean, I may need her to be a libero as a freshman and then move to an outside hitter as a sophomore. With us only bringing back a few players in that class for (her) sophomore season, it's important we have that versatility because we're not sure what we'll need."
Long believes that Arnold will fit in with her new teammates.
"She's just a really good, sweet-hearted, genuine kid that sets a really good example because she's serious and focused," Long said. "All of her teammates respect her."
Arnold was impressed with Logan's coaching staff.
"I like how they always push. It didn't matter what we did in practice. There was always encouragement," Arnold said. "He was pushing me and telling me how he could make this and this better and how he was giving me hope that I could become that next level player."
Arnold is the third Southeast Missouri player to sign with Logan this fall. She will join Bloomfield's Bailey Below and Clearwater's Faith Hoppe as freshmen at the Carterville, Illinois, based junior college.