Member of Wildcats’ 2025 title team signs with UAH Chargers
By DONNA THORNTON, Editor
GUNTERSVILLE — Cameras were snapping Friday morning as teammates and coaches gathered to see Guntersville High Senior Mary George Vandergriff sign on to continue her athletic career with a volleyball scholarship to the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
“I’m super-excited,” Vandergriff said. “I’m super-excited to start this new chapter of my life, I just can’t wait to be there.” The college recruited the Guntersville standout, and she said a visit to campus sealed the deal.
“When I went on my visit, it just felt like home,” she said. “People say when you know you know. I just felt like it was home when I went there. Everything fit perfectly. I’m close to home, I can be near my family, my parents can be able come watch me.”
“I just think it was a perfect fit.
“I’m super-excited to meet everyone and make new friendships and just grow as a person at UAH,” Vandergriff said.
It caps what the Guntersville homecoming queen described as an “amazing” high school career.
Vandergriff was a difference-maker for the Lady Wildcats, helping the squad finish the season 64-5 — an overall record that tied the program record for wins (2008) and marks the most by any AHSAA team since 2018 — and capture the Class 5A state championship. She was named to the All-Tournament team.
“I’ve had the best teammates and coaches, especially this last year, when we won state. That was amazing to experience, with all the people I’ve been playing with for years.”
Coach Melissa Paul–Gardner has been a mentor, Vandergriff said, having coached the team for three seasons. “And coaching me, when we won state, that was just super-special.”
Paul-Gardner said she’d known Mary since she was 14, and saw her “tetter-tottering” between basketball and volleyball. “So for her to actually win two state championships is awesome. I’m also proud that she made that leap and really fell in love with volleyball.
“To see her go through her career and watch her fall in love, put the extra work in, the extra hours, and it’s paid off obviously with this,” Paul-Garnder said.
“Just to be in all these milestones, I feel very privileged and very honored to be a part of her journey,” she said, “and to have it end with a state championship. She earned it. She worked for it. Our whole team did.
“But I really felt she was the glue that held us together,” Paul-Gardner said, being a good supporter for everyone on the team.
“Congratulations; we’re all so proud of you,” she told Vandergriff.
Mary George Vandergriff signs her national letter of intent Friday to continue her volleyball career at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Joining her on stage are her mom, Vanessa, and father, Shane. Mary George is a senior at Guntersville High School, where she won a state championship in 2025. Photo by AMANDA CHASTAIN PHOTOGRAPHY l For The Leader
