Scott Brigham<\/strong><\/a> (Montpelier, Va.\/Patrick Henry).\u00a0 I asked him if it would be crazy if I came back to EMU and he said that the team could use me.\u00a0 I considered it and months later I had applied to EMU and was back to where I first started.\u201d<\/p>\nBack with the Royals, Taylor has had an impressive start to his second collegiate volleyball season.\u00a0 In a match against Lancaster Bible College, the opposite matched his career high of seven kills for the second straight contest with a .500 attack percentage on just 12 swings.\u00a0 He also added four service aces, two blocks and five digs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHunter works hard. You can tell he wants it more than ever,\u201d Coach Dominick Porter said. \u201cSince he\u2019s been back, he\u2019s matured so much and he’s developed a lot, too. He has much more control, he\u2019s much more effective when it comes to hitting, as you can see he hit .500. He can just go up and get a ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor says his deafness has little impact on his ability to play at an elite level. \u201cHonestly I don’t think it affects me as much as you think it would,\u201d he said. \u201cVolleyball is a lot of hand signals and people yell \u2018ball\u2019 loud enough so I get out of the way most of the time.\u00a0 Then again, I’ve had coaches and even teachers tell me they didn’t want me on their team or in their classroom because they didn’t want to face my disability.\u00a0 So I’ve always kept that chip on my shoulder whenever I play or try to ace a test.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor was the first two-year-old in the world to have the MED-EL cochlear implant for hearing loss implanted under his skin.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cool to see the same people that go through what I go through on a daily basis and people be fluent in sign language while communicating with others,\u201d he noted. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s like a new language that you’re just fascinated to see and want to keep watching.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the team is happy to have Hunter back.\u00a0 His presence adds new energy and dedication.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love him,\u201d Porter said. \u201cBefore he left, I even told him, \u2018If you ever want to come back please come back.\u2019 \u00a0I knew he wanted to play volleyball and I guess he just wasn\u2019t ready at the time to do what he\u2019s doing now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor said he is just happy to be playing volleyball at EMU.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels great to be back, I’m a more confident player this time around,\u201dsaid Taylor.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s weird, it\u2019s like taking a year off from volleyball was the best thing I’ve ever done for my career – I’m still figuring out my role on the team, but I\u2019m always ready to come in and give a spark to the team whenever Dom calls on me.\u00a0My freshman year I came in expecting a lot of things, so this year to avoid stress I’m coming in with no expectations.\u00a0 I\u2019m just happy to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some athletes leave their sport and never go back, but Hunter Taylor, from Richmond, Virginia, has returned after a year off with an even greater love for volleyball. His dedication ... read more about Junior volleyball player named to U.S. national deaf team, will play in World Championships and the Deaflympics<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5633,5601],"tags":[5887,17263],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-26876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mens-volleyball","category-physical-education","tag-dominick-porter","tag-hunter-taylor"],"yoast_head":"\nJunior volleyball player named to U.S. national deaf team, will play in World Championships and the Deaflympics - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/junior-volleyball-player-named-to-u-s-national-deaf-team-will-play-in-world-championships-and-the-deaflympics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Junior volleyball player named to U.S. national deaf team, will play in World Championships and the Deaflympics - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some athletes leave their sport and never go back, but Hunter Taylor, from Richmond, Virginia, has returned after a year off with an even greater love for volleyball. 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