Symone Abbot is yet another victim of foreign players limit rules in domestic volleyball leagues around the world, according to Ivolleygamazine.it. Signed by Italy’s Nordmeccanica Modena in December just after graduating from Northwestern University, she had to wait until late January to join the team due to league regulations. Now, only weeks after her first practices with her new teammates, she was bumped out of the roster due to Rafaella Calloni’s injury, which forced Modena to sign another foreigner, Sladjana Eric, to replace her. The arrival of Sladjana put Modena over the foreign quote, and since Abbot was not that high on the team’s depth-chart, she was excused to return to the USA, thus postponing her effective debut with the team until next season.
Italy’s A1 foreign player limit rule is the topic of heated debate between Italy’s volleyball federation and clubs. The federation, which wants to further limit foreign players in the future, thinks that the implemented quota is vital for the development of young Italian players, while the clubs wants the rule the dropped all-together. Sadly for Abbot, this season she got the short end of the stick in this power struggle.
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Abbot has just recently graduated from Northwestern University, where she earned 2017 AVCA All-Region, First Team All-Big Ten, and All American Honorable Mention honors. In 2017, Abbot paced the Big Ten Conference with 10.72 attacks per set, was third with 4.00 kills per set, and fourth with 4.49 points per set, while also finishing the season ranked top-50 nationally in kills per set. In her four year career at Northwestern, she scored 1755 points, and became one of the few players in the history of the program to hit for 1000 career kills.
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