EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Ever since she was a child, watching her older sister compete in volleyball, Michigan State redshirt freshman Malayah Long has been infatuated with the game.

From juggling her time between volleyball and basketball most of her life, to her mom playing professional basketball and her dad playing in college as well as coaching, athletics has always been a major part of her family.

When Long was only 10 years-old, she lost a major piece of her life, but has used her loss to help push her volleyball career to another year.

"My dad passed away when I was 10, and I just found this extra sort of motivation that I wanted to play, you know, college volleyball, and I knew it was going to take work, explained, Long. "He was always like the loudest one in the stands. He

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