Stuttgart's Mia Snyder sets the ball during an Oct. 5, 2024, match against Kaiserslautern at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Coming Tuesday: Athlete of the Year in football.

Mia Snyder had stepped into new positions on the volleyball court before, but heading into her senior season, she really was entering uncharted territory.

Known for her defensive and hitting abilities, as well as her dangerous serve, the Stuttgart player moved into the one position that limited the first two aspects of her game – setting.

Synder spent the summer setting to prepare, but she admitted it still was an adjustment the first two weeks of the season.

“I would say setting is the hardest position,” Snyder said. “You have so much more to think about, so I really had to learn to play smarter and know who to set and where to be at all times.”

Snyder made that transition so seamlessly that others took notice. And with her play over the 2024 season, the Panther senior earned Stars and Stripes’ European girls volleyball Athlete of the Year honors.

During the season, the 5-foot-6 setter amassed 488 assists for a clip of seven per set. Snyder added 202 digs, 61 aces and 52 kills.

Many of those per-set stats improved during the tournament, too. Snyder averaged 7.6 assists for 168 total across eight matches. She also dug out 77 balls and posted a 90% serving percentage.

But stats didn’t tell the whole story, according to her coach, Bethany Trimble. Snyder had to learn how to navigate the floor to make sure she not only received passes but also distributed to her hitters, while also recognizing which of her teammates were on fire and whom to keep feeding if they were struggling.

Trimble said Snyder had to learn to read the defensive matchups on the other side of the net as well, which fed into her decision-making on the floor.

The Panthers ran a 5-1 system of five attackers and one setter, meaning Snyder rarely left the floor and touched the ball every time. She ran the offense, and the opposition noticed her performance.

“From Day 1 when she stepped into that setter position, it was absolutely beautiful to watch,” Trimble said. “I have had so many people come up to me over the course of the season and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, Mia making that transition to setter is just phenomenal. She’s doing such a great job.’

“To have the level of coach feedback, recognizing how awesome of a job she did all season long is really special.”

Snyder developed a unusual serving style over years. She starts by the wall, well off the court, before she takes long strides and tosses the ball up to slam it just over the net, her go-to placement. The ball tends to drop, causing defenders to panic.

She said the toss makes the jump serve, as well as having her hand slam the ball at the highest point of contact.

“I’ve had people come up and tell me they’re scared whenever I go back to serve because they don’t know if it’s going deep or short or a float or a top spin,” Snyder said. “I’m able to manipulate which I do, and it’s harder for the other team because receiving a top spin and a float is two different things.”

Snyder, the daughter of Scott and Carina Syndey, played a key role in the Panthers jumping out the gate fast.

They began the season 6-0 before falling to Kaiserslautern for the first time on Oct. 5 in five sets 22-25, 25-15, 23-25, 25-20, 15-8. The Raiders proved to be Stuttgart’s bogey team during the regular season, as the Panthers’ lone two losses came against them.

Stuttgart entered the postseason as the second seed. The team went 4-2 during pool-play, but the Panthers petered out in the knockout stages, losing to eventual champion Wiesbaden in the semifinals 16-25, 25-20, 25-18, 28-26 and Ramstein in the third-place match 25-22, 26-24.

Snyder said the team wasn’t upset with the result.

“Even though we lost, we weren’t even sad that we lost,” Snyder said. “We were sad that the season was over because our team bond, we were like one big family. Nobody got upset with each other, we weren’t toxic. On the court, we were all smiling and dancing before games, and we just had a really good team dynamic and such unity.”

Snyder doesn’t expect this fall to be the end of her volleyball career. She said she has been in contact with several coaches from small universities in the States.

No matter where she goes, she plans on studying psychology in hopes of becoming a criminal psychologist for the FBI.

Whichever program gets Synder will get a steal, Trimble said. She should know, as she counted her lucky stars when Snyder joined the Panther program for the fall 2023 season.

“She stepped into the gym, and I was like, ‘I won the move-in lottery this year,’” Trimble said. “From the first time that I saw her play, I knew she was going to be able to do some really special things, and she’s absolutely done that for the past two years.”