After suffering a back injury in the offseason, South Carolina’s Courtney Furlong thought her volleyball playing days were over, but now she is back on the court to help her teammates make a run at the NCAA Tournament.
It started in February with a routine day of lifting, where she and the team were going through reps of squats when Furlong felt something pull in her back. For a few weeks, it was just tight but increasingly became worse and worse, to the point where Furlong was nearly unable to walk.
“Getting out of bed was really tough,” said Furlong. “I couldn’t really do basic things. I would drive myself to class and I would try to park as close a possible because it would take me around 20 minutes just to walk a few hundred feet.”
At this point, Furlong headed to the doctor to see what was going on and an MRI showed she had a herniated disk in her lower back. This is when the disk pops out and is pushed up against a nerve. The pain this was causing Furlong forced her to sleep sitting upright in a chair because she was unable to lay down.
In May, Furlong had surgery on her back to correct the disk, which gave her instant relief. Over the summer, Furlong rehabbed her back to build up the strength that she lost due to the injury and by the start of the preseason was able to participate in full practices.
By the start of the team’s first match against Mercer, Furlong was named one of the starters – putting down three kills and a block in the match.
“I play without thinking about my back,” said Furlong.
Furlong wants to help her team achieve their goals this season in every way that she can, with the team’s ultimate destination being the NCAA Tournament at the end of the season. Right now, the Gamecocks are 8-5 overall, with a 1-0 conference mark after posting a win over Mississippi State in five. The squad now has a three-match home stretch starting with LSU on September 29, Tennessee on October 1 and Georgia on October 6.
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