Gilroy Prepping for Second Professional Season

TROY, Ala. – After spending nine months in Reggio, Italy, playing professional volleyball, former Trojan Meghan Gilroy will return to her home away home on the Italian coast in September to open her second season with S.S. Cuore of the Italian Serie C league.

Gilroy, who spent this week helping the Troy volleyball staff at their team and individual camps at Sartain Hall, has spent the summer in her hometown of Pensacola, Fla., after returning from her first professional stint in June.

Her S.S. Cuore club finished second in Serie C last season, the third division of Italian professional volleyball, but this year they'll be looking for promotion into Serie B, the second division of the system, with a first place finish.

S.S Cuore has signed three players from Serie A, the premier Italian professional league, to team with Gilroy as they seek promotion to the next level of the Italian professional volleyball system.

The commitment to winning by the organization is something that helped convince Gilroy to return to Italy for a second season.

“They are definitely looking to move up,” Gilroy said. “They've invested in me because they want me to stay for the long haul.”

However, it isn't just the on court aspect of her move that Gilroy has enjoyed, she has also taken a liking to the transition to life on European soil. As her squad only plays one match per week, she has had time to immerse herself in the culture of Reggio, the biggest city in the Calabria province, located on the southernmost coast of the Italian peninsula.

“I'm getting paid to live in Europe and play volleyball,” said Gilroy, a 2010 graduate of Troy. “It's been a wonderful experience.”

During her downtime between practice and matches, Gilroy's club is offering her the opportunity to learn the Italian language at the local university in Reggio.

The schooling, combined with Gilroy's time in Italy, may afford her the opportunity to teach Italian at the university level in the United States. Gilroy said that the opportunity to teach English while she is in Italy may also become a possibility.

Also, Gilroy isn't making the transition to life in a foreign country on her own. Joining her with S.S. Cuore is fellow American Kelsey Wirt who played collegiately at Vanguard University in California.

For now though, Gilroy is focusing on enjoying time at home with her family, and hopefully taking part in Troy's annual alumni game, which is scheduled for Saturday, August 18.

Gilroy finished her four-year career at Troy in 2009 after leading the Trojans in kills for three consecutive seasons. In her senior season, Gilroy was named to the second-team All-Sun Belt team, the first postseason Sun Belt award ever given to a Trojan.

“I think Meghan's accomplishments bring a lot of notoriety to our program,” Troy head coach Sonny Kirkpatrick said. “And this just shows that it's an achievable goal for our players who wish to go on to the next level.”

Gilroy finished her Troy career with 1,447 kills, the third most in school history and a .323 attack percentage, the second highest in school history. Gilroy also finished as the Trojans all-time leader in blocks with 298.

For more information on Troy Athletics, be sure to follow the Trojans on Twitter at @TroyAthletics or on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TroyAthletics.

Troy University Athletics

Gilroy Prepping for Second Professional Season

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