NEW BETHLEHEM, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Ryley Pago jumped into the air to take a swing at the volleyball like she had thousands of times before.

This time, however, was different.

The next thing the Redbank Valley senior knew, she was sprawled out on the floor during a summer league game against Clarion-Limestone on July 1.

Her teammates converged and tried to help Pago to her feet, tugging at her arms. But, Pago remained on the floor; her worst fears rampaging through her mind.

“I knew something was seriously wrong when I was laying there,” Pago said. “It happened so fast. It didn’t even seem like I landed wrong. My knee just gave out, and I just collapsed.”

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Pago’s heart raced. Panic gripped her.

“This cannot be happening” was all she could think.

But, it was happening. Deep inside her left knee, her ACL was shredded and her meniscus torn.

That wasn’t the end of it, though. Pago spent a month after the injury with the false hope that her senior season for the Bulldogs was not erased by one fluke play.

“It was funny because we were at the hospital until the early morning that night, and they said they weren’t even sure if it was my ACL,” Pago said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of movement.”

Pago was even more encouraged when she could walk without a noticeable limp shortly after the injury.

She began to focus again on the big things she wanted to accomplish during her senior season, building on the dream campaign she and her team enjoyed in 2020. Redbank Valley went 21-2 last year, winning the District 9 Class 2A title, and Pago was a big part of that run as a dominant middle hitter.

Pago was convinced she could play. Then, she was blindsided. It was as if she had crumpled to the volleyball floor in pain all over again.

Doctors finally did an MRI and saw the complete ACL tear. Pago’s senior season was over before it had even begun.

“I started breaking down,” Pago said. “Everything was running through my head, like everything from junior season. As a senior, it’s exciting going into your season, thinking how much fun you’re going to have and everything you want to accomplish, and it all just kind of went down the drain.”

What made the diagnosis worse was how well Pago was functioning. The torn ACL even came as a surprise to her doctors.

“Nobody, literally nobody, would have guessed my ACL was torn,” Pago said. “I was on crutches for maybe two weeks, and then I was walking around normally. I was my normal self. When they found my ACL was torn, it was shocking.”

There were signs, though, that the knee wasn’t quite right; indications that something was terribly wrong that in hindsight Pago admitted she simply chose to ignore.

Like if she stood or walked for too long, the knee would buckle.

“I would just fall down,” Pago said. “So, yeah, I probably knew there was something wrong just from that.”

After she was told her ACL was gone, Pago toyed with the idea of putting off surgery until after the volleyball season so she could play her final year. But, she also had her future with the Pitt-Bradford women’s volleyball team to think about, as well as her long-term health.

“I even asked the doctor about it,” Pago said. “She said as an athlete who wants to play in college, he would really suggest I get the surgery right now because it would benefit me in the long run. Even though I really wanted to play my senior season, I was just thinking to myself, ‘I gotta be better for college. I want to be back.’”

Pago was named one of the Redbank Valley team captains this season, and she can be found during every practice and every game on the bench, cheering on her teammates and trying to help them get a little big better each day.

That’s probably why she was given the captain’s jersey, to begin with.

If she can’t help them on the court, she’s going to try to help them as much as she can off of it.

It’s not an easy thing for her to do. She pines for the chance to get out on the court with them, to wear her No. 14 jersey just one more time. To leap into the air and make a momentum-shifting block or kill.

At times, the anguish that she cannot do any of those things is unbearable.

“My first couple of practices that I was able to get back to, I sat on the bench and cried for 15 minutes,” Pago said. “The first couple of games, I had to go into the locker room and cry because losing that stinks. It really does.”

Pago has slowly come to grips with her fate, and she’s become determined to make an impact for Redbank Valley in other ways this season.

“I just came to realize that I wouldn’t have traded the years that I did have for anything,” Pago said. “I just came to realize that I’m going to go to every single practice and every single game and help these girls out as much as I can and support them because that’s all I can do now.”

Pago had surgery to reconstruct her knee on August 12. She was told it would be a nine-month recovery, but she’s not one to rest on that timetable.

She wants to return sooner than that.

Pago is determined to get on the court immediately at Pitt-Bradford and be an impact player there.

Not bad for someone who upon entering junior high hated the mere thought of playing volleyball.

“In the seventh grade, I didn’t want anything to do with volleyball,” Pago said, chuckling. “I thought volleyball was the most stupid sport. I was like, ‘This sport is so weird.’”

But, as often is the case, Pago’s friends were playing, and she didn’t want to be left out. So, she held her nose and joined the volleyball team.

Before she knew what had happened, she fell in love with the game.

Pago sprouted to 6-feet tall and settled in at middle hitter, a position that sometimes goes unheralded, but is one of the most impactful on the court.

“I really love playing middle because it’s so unique from the other positions,” Pago said. “You get a taste of almost everything. It’s fast-paced, and you’re always on the go; you’re always doing something, always blocking, always covering and hitting when you get a good chance.”

Nothing gets Pago more fired up than a good block.

“Blocking is probably the thing that I love the most,” Pago said. “Most people will say they love hitting, but I love taking that away from other hitters when you block them. Just the excitement after you block a great hitter is just so awesome, and I just love celebrating it after with the team.”

Pago is longing for the days when she can do all those things again. It’s going to be a tough road, and it already has been for Pago, who has good days and bad days during her arduous rehab.

“I’ve realized everything comes when it comes,” Pago said. “Even Monday (against Keystone) I wanted to get out there and do it all for them, but I have to be patient. I’m just pushing to get back.”

Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.