BATON ROUGE — When Vaterra Calais wrapped up her career at Catholic High, she left as the school’s all-time assists leader with more than 1,000 over her career.

When she wraps up her collegiate career at Southern in the next couple of weeks or so, she may not be the school’s all time leader in assists, but she still will have a milestone mark on her resume as she leaves with more than 2,000 assists over her four years as a starter for the Lady Jags.

“I didn’t even know what I had done,” Calais said. “In high school, I kind of did the same thing and I didn’t know it was happening then.

“I had no clue what was happening until after the game and I started getting texts and people were sending me information that Vaterra Calais reached the 2,000 assists mark of her career and it was pretty cool because I wasn’t expecting it.”

From starting out as a freshman to finishing her career as a senior, Calais has been a constant for Southern Lady Jags volleyball, setting up the hitters during matches.

“When I see 2,000 assists, all I can say is, ‘Wow!’” Calais said. “But it’s all been a team effort. Without my hitters being able to put the ball down and without my passers being able to get the ball to me, I wouldn’t have gotten to this point.

“I thank my teammates and my coaches for me being able to be at this point in my career.”

In her final season, Southern has a 12-16 overall record and 10-8 in the conference and plays Grambling in the first round of the conference tournament starting Friday.

“The year has gone pretty good, we finished third overall and we’re going into the SWAC Tournament this weekend,” Calais said. “And we’re hoping to win the whole thing.”

It’s been a long ride for the Catholic High graduate.

She made the usually hard transition from high school to college and has thrived in the fast-paced environment of collegiate athletics.

But even though Calais has had success at the next level, her career also has had some pitfalls along the way.

“It was pretty different transitioning from high school volleyball to college volleyball,” Calais said. “But my coaches were very helpful and it turned out for the good.

“The biggest thing was the pace of the game. High school volleyball is slower than college volleyball and trying to adjust to new hitters, new teammates and a new coach was a big transition for me.”

Calais had to adjust quickly because she started as freshman and stayed on the court all four years at Southern.

“Throughout my freshman year and to my senior year, I’ve changed, my game has changed because since my freshman year I feel like I’ve developed into a better player,” Calais said. “When I got there the upperclassmen had been used to the previous setter and with my sets being different, it was hard at first but they were very supportive and helped me adjust to how the hitters liked their sets at this level.”

Calais said it took her a little while to make the adjustment but with all the practices she went through as a freshman it prepared her for when conference play began.

“Once SWAC play began I felt I was ready to be the setter for the team,” she said.

And it’s been a solid career wearing the Blue and Gold.

Calais’ teams have been to the SWAC Tournament all four years of her career. In her senior year, the Lady Jags are the highest seed they’ve ever been at the tournament.

Now that it’s winding down, Calais looks forward to the next stage of her life.

She graduates in May with a degree in education and has been coaching club volleyball in Baton Rouge.

She wants to continue coaching club volleyball after she graduates and would eventually like to get back into the high school ranks and do some coaching at that level as well.

“It means a lot to me to be able to do what I’ve been able to do,” Calais said. “I started volleyball at a real young age. I think I was in the fifth grade when I started playing.

“Just working hard from fifth grade until now, I feel like it was all worth it. I know my playing career comes to an end after college volleyball but I’ll be able to continue in the game through coaching.

“I learned a lot in volleyball and I want to be able to pass that down to the younger players coming up.”