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Turlock's Victoria Larsen signs with Fresno Pacific
Larsen signing
Victoria Larsen signed a letter of intent to play volleyball for Fresno Pacific University.

A day after ending her high school volleyball career with a close playoff loss to Lincoln High, Turlock High's Victoria Larsen inked the beginning of a new chapter in her life when she signed her national letter of intent to play for Fresno Pacific University.

As the sole senior captain for the Bulldogs in 2014, Larsen helped her team orchestrate a turnaround season and finish second in the Central California Conference — Turlock's best finish since 2006. Now, the soon-to-be Sunbird is ready to elevate her game and fulfill a dream six years in the making.

“Ever since I was little, just playing any sport, I always wanted to be a collegiate athlete because my dad was a coach at Stanislaus and at Menlo. I always wanted to be a part of it,” Larsen said. “Everyone always told me, 'you should be a volleyball player because you're tall and you have long legs.' Once I started playing in sixth grade it was my most favorite sport I ever played, so I decided to drop all the other ones (sports) and focus on volleyball.”

In addition to playing for Turlock, Larsen has also played for several travel teams through the years, including Rage Volleyball and Sac Performance, where she developed into a powerful outside hitter. The combination of her travel and high school play was enough to draw interest from Point Loma Nazarene University, Cal Poly Pamona and several other Division II colleges before she decided on Fresno Pacific.

“All summer I've been contemplating whether or not I wanted to go there,” Larsen said. “I really love the coach and the team. It's close to home, they're in a really good conference and my parents can come to my games and I can come home whenever I want. Plus I have a lot of friends going to Fresno State.”

Larsen will join a team that is currently 20-7 with two games remaining in the 2014 season.

“This season was a really good and fun season, and I'm definitely going to miss playing in front of all my high school friends. I'm going to miss a lot of the teammates I had, especially some of the freshman on the team this year,” Larsen said. “But I'm really looking forward to playing big, college ball, traveling far and getting the opportunity to play against really good girls and hopefully do well.”