Perhaps Person senior volleyball standouts Amanda Robertson and Meagan Tatum should be the first Rocket players to have their names engraved on the imposing blue rock that sits next to the Person High School gymnasium.

Similar to the school’s original “Rock,” which is situated adjacent to the north end zone at Rocket Stadium and was put into its present location a quarter of a century ago, another large boulder was placed next to the gym at the behest of Rocket volleyball coach Sandy Mathews back in 2006.

Its placement came as a result of a serious accident involving Person’s then star setter, Amanda Clark, whose car collided with the stone the day before Person was to meet PAC-6 foe Chapel Hill in the Division 4A sectional round two years ago.

Fortunately, Clark escaped the incident without injury and the Rockets defeated the Tigers on their way to the state title in ’06. Clark ended up the Most Valuable Player of the tournament final that year.

As an act of solidarity this past season, Mathews, who announced her resignation as Person’s head coach two weeks ago, gathered her squad together the morning of Person’s first-round playoff match to paint the pressure-treated stone a solid coat of Royal blue (the school colors).

At least in part, the stone has come tosymbolize the Rocket volleyball team’s three-year run of consecutive state finals appearances, consecutive undefeated Piedmont Athletic Conference titles, and state championships in 2006 and 2007.

And no two figures seem to represent that era better than Robertson and Tatum, who were major contributors during all three seasons.

They both recently received national honors from PrepVolleyball.com, a website that covers high school volleyball around the country.

Tatum, who played the outside hitter position this season, made the third team on the Academic All-American list, while Robertson, a middle blocker, received honorable mention as an Academic All-American and was named to the All-American team.

Academic All-American honors are given based on a players’ performance both on the court and as a student. All-American selections are awarded on the basis of a players’ impact on her team and high ranking in the state.

According to PrepVolleyball, the academic awards were presented in five teams of eight, plus a “Highest Honorable Mention” category. They were culled from more than 100 nominees nationwide. Robertson was one of 150 players from 37 states to be recognized as an All-American. It was also her second time being selected to the team.

As their senior year at Person draws to a close, Tatum and Robertson, who have both earned grade-point-averages well above 4.0, are now gearing up for life at the college level at nationally renowned universities.

Tatum, a two-time All-PAC-6 player, is moving to upstate New York to attend Cornell University and play for the Ivy League school’s volleyball team under head coach Deitre Collins-Parker.

“I know it’s going to be a huge change for me. I’ll miss everyone here but I’m excited about it, and I look forward to the opportunity,” said Tatum of her move to Cornell this coming fall. “The area up there is a lot like Roxboro and I felt comfortable there when I went to visit the campus. So it’s not going to be that hard.”

Robertson will remain a lot closer to home as a student at Duke University and member of the Blue Devil volleyball team under coach Jolene Nagel. She is happy about the fact that she’ll be trekking just 30 miles south to Durham as a member of the Blue Devils, who won the ACC title in 2006 and finished second last season.

“I’m glad I’m going to be near home. I love small towns like Roxboro, where everyone knows each other. It’s like a big family,” she said. “I know it will be tough with the work load, because academics are really stressed [at Duke]. But I’m excited about it. I can’t wait. Being a player at Duke, it will be nice because people here in town can come to watch me play if they want to.”

During the 2007 playoff run, Robertson, an All-PAC-6 player since her sophomore year, averaged 17 kills over the final three postseason contests and had eight blocks in the sectional-round win over Chapel Hill.

Tatum was named the MVP of this years’ state final win over Myers Park, where she came up huge with a 14-kill, 14-dig performance.

Both players combined for 39 kills in the dramatic 3-2 semifinal victory over Wilmington Hoggard.