UAFS Lions Coach Louis Whorton Hall of Fame
She only played one season for the UAFS volleyball team, but in that short span, Paula Castro Abbott changed the course of not only Lady Lions volleyball but also the entire UAFS athletics program.
When Abbott transferred from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College to UAFS for the 2001 season, the native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, became not only the first international player to play volleyball at UAFS but the first international player to ever play for any UAFS team.
Through her effort and hard work on the court, where she led the team in kills, digs and service reception and earned All-Region and Honorable-Mention All-American honors, and in the classroom, where she earned Academic All-American honors, Abbott was nothing short of the model student-athlete, convincing UAFS to open its recruitment to even more international players.
Since then, UAFS has recruited and signed international players in men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, men's and women's cross country and men’s and women’s tennis.
Abbott, who was a two-time All-Region outside hitter, led the Lady Lions to a 37-5 record and a runner-up finish in the Bi-State Conference and the NJCAA Region II Tournament. She was the first Lady Lion to earn Academic All-American and All-American honors.
Abbott went on to play libero two seasons at NCAA Division I University of Arkansas, where she helped lead the Lady’Backs to a 54-13 overall record and a 29-3 record in the Southeastern Conference and a berth in the NCAA National Tournament. She was second on the team in digs as a junior and led the team in digs as a senior.
While at Arkansas, Abbott earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. She went on to earn a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of California-San Diego.
She returned to UAFS in the fall of 2010 as a chemistry instructor in the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and volunteer assistant coach for the volleyball team.
