LOCKPORT, N.Y. — Watching Amber Chunco play defense like the Tasmanian Devil and dive all over the place for the ball during her modified basketball days, a light bulb went off over the head of then coach Liz Denniston.

“I told her to try out for volleyball,” said Denniston, a former volleyball great at Medina now entering her 11th season this fall as the Lady Lions volleyball coach.

“She didn’t have the height to play in the first row, but she was perfect for libero (defensive specialist). A libero needs to be quick and aggressive and I could tell she’d be good at it just from watching her play defense in basketball. Today, she’s probably the best libero I’ve had in all my years of coaching volleyball.”

Denniston’s suggestion to make a volleyball libero out of Chunco can be considered one of the turning points in Chunco’s high school sports careers.

“She wasn’t always a good person to deal with at the beginning,” Denniston said.

“Maturity-wise, the change is incredible. Now she’s one of the most coachable people I’ve ever worked with. She never gives up and always has a positive attitude.”

Chunco was named to the All-Niagara Frontier League Third Team last year. This season, she’s already off to an all-star year, posting a school-record 25 digs in Monday’s loss to Kenmore West. The Lady Lions are 1-3 to start the new season, but are expected to win most of their remaining matches this season.

“I was pretty good at it right away, but I think I’ve learned to be more of a team player,” Chunco said. “Coach Denniston taught me to be more team oriented — not to be selfish and look for the team for support. You need to be more concerned about your team than yourself. Put the team first. If you play as a team, everyone else will follow you.”

Named a 2006 LHS volleyball co-captain this year, Chunco has responded with the leadership qualities Denniston said she always knew she had in her.

“She’s even very conscientious now in the classroom. I have her in study hall and she’s always the one to say to the other girls, ‘OK, let’s settle down and do some home work here,’ ” Denniston said.

“With Amber and Bridgette Burke playing well, we should have no problems the rest of the way this season.”

Chunco, who also excels in basketball, said she plans to attend Niagara University next fall, majoring in childhood education.

Her goal is to become a first-grade teacher, but right now, it’s all about her volleyball team.

“We could be a lot better. I think we’ll start to play a lot better. We just need to become more of a team,” she said.