In life, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus posited, change is the only constant.
 
It is a creed that James Madison’s Sophie Davis, one of the top middle blockers in the country, has embodied her entire life.
 
Davis, the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year, has lived in four countries, speaks three – soon to be four – languages, has played multiple sports and has moved more times than she can count.
 
Now in her fifth year playing volleyball for the Dukes, Davis is among the very best in the game. She ranks third on the NCAA’s active career leaders list with an average of 1.35 blocks per set. Davis was among the top-25 players in the nation last season in both hitting percentage and blocks per set and is primed for another elite season in 2023.
 
“Every place I’ve moved and every experience that I’ve had has played a part in who I am today,” Davis said. “If someone is going through change, it’s actually an opportunity. It’s not a big scary thing.”
 
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Davis, who now calls Fort Lauderdale home, was born in Hollywood, Fla., and moved frequently within the South Florida area during her youth.
 
Her dad, Paul, is Colombian and her mom, Michelle, is Brazilian. She grew up speaking both English and Portuguese.
 
Davis, her parents and her sister Carolina moved to Brazil to be closer to Michelle’s family. Paul’s career success as a marketing director earned him several promotions over the years and, with those promotions, came moves to Argentina, Mexico and then back to Florida. Along the way, Sophie also picked up Spanish.
 
“I’ve always switched between English and Portuguese,” Davis said. “My mom has always spoken Portuguese to us at home, so I’ve been going in between. I saw how Spanish and Portuguese were similar, so learning Spanish wasn’t that hard because of my background in Portuguese. I do speak a little mixture of Spanish and English.”
 
Being constantly on the move was difficult for Davis, but her close relationship with Carolina made the adjustment easier.
 
“I have a little sister and, every time we moved, we were basically each other’s best friends,” Davis said. “She would be the only friend I had in the country. I am two years older than her, but we went to the same schools. That was definitely a big part of getting comfortable.”
 
Sports played an important connector for Davis in the cities in which she lived– she played soccer and basketball - and her teammates provided instant community.
 
“Sports is what really helped me out because I would just try out for a team at my new school,” she said. “I became incorporated in my new team and those became my friends.”
 
 
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Since the age of 3, Davis has known that she wanted to be a professional athlete. Figuring out what sport she wanted to play was a different matter.
 
From ages 3-9, Davis played tennis and was on a route to play professionally but became drawn to the appeal of team sports. As a high school freshman in Mexico City, she played basketball and intended to continue with that sport once back in the United States.
 
“The level of basketball [in the United States] was very different,” Davis said. “It was a lot more aggressive and there were better, bigger athletes. I’m not really an aggressive person.”
 
Davis’ mom Michelle encouraged her to consider playing volleyball once she entered high school at Saint Thomas Aquinas, but Sophie was unfamiliar with the sport and uncertain about taking it up.
 
“I had never watched volleyball in my life,” she said. “It was not really popular in the schools I went to growing up abroad.”
 
As fate would have it, Davis – who already stood 6-feet tall as a high school sophomore – had a chance encounter with the school’s volleyball head coach Lisa Zielinski.
 
“I had just moved to Florida and she saw me in the hallway and said ‘Please try out for volleyball,’” Davis said. “I told my mom that I had seen the coach and now I had to try out. My mom signed me up for a camp and I started understanding it and liking it.”
 
Davis made her high school’s junior varsity team as a sophomore and essentially served as a practice player for the varsity squad. The team’s success inspired her to continue growing in the sport.
 
“I learned the basics – I had no prior knowledge of volleyball,” Davis said. “The varsity team ended up winning state and that was a huge motivation for me. It really set volleyball apart for me.”
 
Davis also began playing club volleyball for Boomers Volleyball Academy and very quickly became one of the best at her new sport. Davis was selected as an Under Armour Honorable Mention All-American and the South Florida Sun Sentinel named her the Broward 9A-6A Volleyball Player of the Year.
 
“I definitely think every sport I played led to this one and I learned little things from each one,” Davis said. “My basketball coach joked that a lay-up has the footwork of a slide and that’s my best hit. I played a lot of sports and I think everything happened for me to end up playing volleyball.”
 
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Davis knew she wanted to attend James Madison from the moment she stepped foot on campus. She and her mom were in the final day of visiting three schools in three days in the Mid-Atlantic Region, when she knew she had found her collegiate home.
 
“When I met [head coach] Lauren [Steinbrecher], there was an immediate connection,” Davis said. “The campus was beautiful and the coaches were so personable. I told my mom that I wanted to accept on the spot the second they offered me. My mom told me to give it time.”
 
Davis ended up committing a month later, on September 1 of her junior year of high school.
 
“They took a chance on me,” she said. “I was getting recruited because of my potential, not because of my skill at the time. Lauren really believed in me.”
 
It didn’t take long for Davis’ potential to become reality. As a freshman in 2019, she earned the first of three consecutive All-Colonial Athletic Association First-Team accolades. Over the next three seasons, she would average better than 1.2 blocks per set per year and was one of her team’s top contributors.
 
In 2022, James Madison joined the Sun Belt Conference and Davis was instantly one of the league’s standouts. She started all 29 matches for her team, leading the conference in blocks with 148 on the year. The Sun Belt head coaches chose Davis as the Defensive Player of the Year and she also was named Most Outstanding Performer of the Sun Belt Tournament. She led her team to both the Sun Belt regular-season and tournament titles and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Along the way, Davis has also consistently been a Dean’s List student at James Madison. Off the court, she is appreciative for the ways in which she has grown as a person.
 
“I have definitely grown a lot, especially mentally,” Davis said. “I’m so much stronger and strong-minded than I was coming in as a freshman. That is a big thing that Lauren prioritizes on our team and in our culture. That has changed so many people who have gone through the program and helped them come out as better stronger-minded individuals. I feel more prepared for the real world.”
 
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Aside from her contributions on the court, Davis has been a mentor to her teammates in countless ways. One of the biggest lessons that she imparts has to do with change.
 
“Some people have lived in the same small town their entire lives,” Davis said. “That’s not something I’ve experienced. I can help my friends become excited about what the world has to offer.”
 
Davis – who is now teaching herself Italian on an app called Duolingo – has encouraged many of her teammates to learn new languages, though they aren’t as adept at picking up the languages as she has been.
 
“At practice, we’ll be joking around a lot,” she said. “Annie Smith will try to speak Spanish all practice and I’ll correct her. When I’m in the locker room and I’m talking to my mom or grandma, they’ll all stop what they’re doing and try to guess what I’m saying. It’s just funny.”
 
Beginning her final season playing at James Madison, expectations for Davis and the program are at an all-time high. She was selected as the Sun Belt Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and James Madison is currently receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll.
 
Winning the Sun Belt Conference once again is a team goal for the Dukes and Davis says she is focused on being the best leader she can be to help her team achieve its goals.
 
“I didn’t ever expect to be the team captain,” Davis said. “I’m so grateful and I’m learning to be in this position. I am trying to be the best leader that I can be and someone that my teammates can rely on.”
 
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The future for Davis is incredibly bright as she looks ahead to playing volleyball professionally. Given the long journey that she has been on, wherever her path leads her, Davis will be at home.
 
“I’m not scared because I’m kind of used to jumping out of my comfort zone,” she said. “I’m so used to change that I look forward to change.”