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The choice that Mia Bradley didn’t want to make led to the decision that she wanted more than any other.

Throughout middle school and the early stages of her athletic tenure at Polk County, Bradley played numerous sports and played them all well. But as the time to think about a possible college career approached, Bradley’s father, Lee, suggested perhaps it was time to pick one sport as her main focus.

That wasn’t what Bradley had planned.

“My dad always told me, eventually you’re going to have to drop a few sports. You’re going to get pretty busy, especially when you’re trying to go to college,” Bradley recalled. “And I told him I didn’t want to, that I wanted to play all the sports I could for as long as I could and just have options at the end.

“My sophomore year of high school, we were coming back from a volleyball tournament, and I don’t know what made me change my mind, but I just knew. I want to play volleyball. This is the sport I want to continue playing. I enjoy this sport.”

Heart and mind obviously knew best, setting Bradley on a path that led her to Thursday’s signing with the University of Virginia’s College at Wise to continue her career. Bradley took part in a Signing Day ceremony in the PCHS auditorium with teammates Sophia Overholt and Morgan Yoder.

Bradley’s decision to make volleyball her primary sport helped accelerate her on-court development. She blossomed into an outstanding outside hitter, but also played well enough on the back line to be named the Mountain Foothills 7 Conference Defensive Player of the Year this season as she helped lead the Wolverines to their second straight state championship.

Polk County head coach Molly Hill expects Bradley’s growth to continue at UVA Wise.

“I know that she’s going into it and it’s a new roster and a lot of new competition, but she’s that kid that thrives in that situation, when that little bit of pressure is put on her” Hill said. “We saw that even this season, just a little bit of pressure gets put on her and she’s just going to soar.

“I’m excited to see her at the next level. Hopefully she can get in there and show them that even though she’s a freshman, she can hang and get the job done.”

UVA Wise is located in the small town of Wise in the western part of Virginia, and its rural feel in a picturesque portion of the state first grabbed Bradley’s attention.

“It’s a beautiful school,” she said. “I hadn’t heard anything about it, and I looked it up online and it is so pretty up there. And then I went up there for a camp and I met the coaches and they’re both amazing. They’re so nice and they were so welcoming to me.

“They made it seem like they really wanted me, which was really important because I wanted to go to a school that really appreciated me and my talents. I just felt really at home. Even the people in town, if you’re just walking around campus, there are people that are like, ‘Oh, do you go to college here?’ They’ll just talk to you forever. I just knew it was the perfect place when we went there.”

UVA Wise competes in the South Atlantic Conference as does Mars Hill, with whom Yoder signed on Thursday. That means potential meetings down the road where the two longtime teammates will be on opposite sides of the court.

“I’m really looking forward to that,” Bradley said. “I was hoping we would play on the same team, but I think I’m even more excited that we’re going to play against each other. We’ve always been on the same team, so it will be fun to play against her.”

That faceoff means she’ll be Mia Bradley, college volleyball player. Which means that decision she made two years ago proved to be a pretty good one.

“That sounds really crazy, but I think I’m getting more used to it,” Bradley said. “I really like it.”