Grace Carroll’s volleyball journey was born from one of those in-the-moment experiences, nurtured from simply being a vision into a reality through literal and figurative growth. In summer 2012, a 6-year-old Carroll was watching the London Olympics on television and a volleyball match appeared on the screen. Although she doesn’t recall specific details, Carroll remembered being amazed by the players’ abilities and skills. A fuse was lit.

“I looked over at my mom, and I told her I wanted to start playing,” Carroll said.

A few months later, Carroll was on a volleyball court for the first time. Nearly a decade later, Carroll — now a 6-foot-5 sophomore at Alamo Heights High School — has blossomed into one of the nation’s top prospects in the Class of 2024.

In the past month, Carroll, a left-handed setter/outside hitter, participated in the Under Armour All American camp in Las Vegas and earned MVP honors. Antonian’s Kalina Calvillo, Brandeis’ Lola Davila and Keystone’s Alysa Walker also were at the event. Carroll followed the prestigious Under Armour venture by attending the University of Florida’s College Prep camp in Gainesville, Fla., and twice was lauded for her play. She was among 170 players nationwide chosen by USA Volleyball for the inaugural National Team Development Program Summer Training series July 18-23 in Anaheim, Calif. Cornerstone’s Taylor Anderson, a junior setter/outside hitter, also attended.

“In all honesty, it feels like a dream,” Carroll said. “As a 6 year old, I could never imagine being at the level I am now. Before I started playing volleyball, I went through almost every sport, and although I wanted to play, I didn’t know how long I would last. I think it’s a really exciting thing and not many kids get this opportunity. I always remember to be grateful and to always try because I never know who’s watching.”

Carroll’s meteoric rise might represent a sea change on another scale. Even with a roll call that includes Olympians Rita Crockett (1980 and ’84), Demetria Sance (2000), Destinee Hooker (2012), Lou Sara Clark-McWilliams (1964) and Barbara Harwerth (1964) and other top-level players, the San Antonio area has often been viewed as being behind Dallas, Houston and Austin in the state’s volleyball pecking order.

The narrative, though, could be shifting as the area is in the midst of one of its best recruiting cycles. If any team is in need of a setter, outside hitter, middle blocker or a libero, there’s a strong chance that a very good one will be found.

“It’s just that there’s more now,” said Angelo State coach Chuck Waddington, who this past spring led his squad to the inaugural American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II national championship with a roster where one-quarter of the players were from this area, of the quantity and quality of local prospects. “You see them in a lot of places. The kids there, they’re hard-working. They never expect you to give them anything. They want to earn it, and that fits my personality really well. I was just kind of naturally drawn to those kids.”

Waddington, who for seven years drove three hours from San Angelo to San Antonio for his daughter Bailey to play for a local club team, apparently isn’t alone in his thinking. The impact is being seen as programs from all NCAA divisions are making recruiting inroads.

“I think that when I was in high school and playing club, San Antonio was usually the underdog out of all those other big cities,” said Angelo State redshirt senior middle blocker Grace White, who played at Antonian. “But as time has passed, I believe that San Antonio is making a bigger statement with all the successful players that have and are continuing to come from there.”

A national profile

Savannah Guzman had idle time and a remote control one Friday evening last October when she flipped through the channels in search of a college volleyball match to watch with roommate Mikayla Ware.

Guzman, a junior libero from Antonian, and Ware, a senior outside hitter from Clark, are standouts at Texas-Tyler and helped the Patriots reach the final of the Lone Star Conference tournament last spring before falling in five sets to Angelo State.

Although most college conferences either delayed or cancelled their volleyball seasons in fall 2020, or played an abbreviated schedule, Guzman stumbled upon a top-10 showdown between Notre Dame and Pittsburgh to watch.
Notre Dame rallied to defeat Pittsburgh 22-25, 17-25, 25-21, 25-20, 17-15. Sophomore outside hitter Caroline Meuth led the Fighting Irish with 17 kills, 17 digs, four aces and 3 1/2 blocks. Meuth is a Churchill graduate.

“It’s crazy just seeing how all these people that you played with when you were young in San Antonio, you now see their names on national television, you see them playing in these big games,” Guzman said. “I definitely see San Antonio being put on a map. I think I’ve seen it more now than I have in the past few years, just how many coaches are really, truly recruiting out of San Antonio.”

Baylor, a national semifinalist in 2019, has three San Antonio products (sisters Kara and Elise McGhee from Clark and Lauren Briseno from Cornerstone) on its roster. Texas State has advanced to the NCAA tournament in each of the past three seasons, an accomplishment that can be traced to the 2018 recruiting class headlined by Brandeis’ Emily DeWalt, Clemens’ Lauren Teske and Madison’s Jillian Slaughter. The Bobcats, who also include New Braunfels’ Emily Smylie and Steele’s Jada Gardner, advanced to the second round twice during that span, falling to Nebraska this spring and Texas in 2018.

Texas A&M, which was ranked in the top 25 and advanced to the regional semifinals before falling to eventual national finalist Wisconsin two years ago, has three (Reagan’s Camryn Ennis, O’Connor’s Allison Fields and Holy Cross’ Faye Wilbricht). SMU (Johnson’s Kaylyn Winkler, New Braunfels’ Hannah Jacobs, Poth’s Makayla Miller and New Braunfels Canyon’s Angel Jones), Texas Tech (New Braunfels Canyon’s Brooke Kanas, San Antonio Christian’s Camryn Specia and Reagan’s Maddie Correa), Army (Churchill’s Cate Buckingham and Keystone’s Isabella Sullivan) and Tulsa (Alamo Heights’ Callie Cook and New Braunfels Canyon’s Kylie Trefflich) also have multiple area athletes playing for them.

No league, though, has perhaps benefited more from local talent than Division II’s Lone Star Conference.
Angelo State, which finished the spring season ranked No. 1 in the nation, featured Brennan’s Makenna Hanssen, La Vernia’s Chloe Patton, White and Steele’s Alyssa Meyer on its roster. Meyer graduated but the other three players return this fall and will welcome New Braunfels Canyon’s Erin Jones into the fold.

Texas A&M-Kingsville, coming off its best season, has seven players on its roster (Harlan’s Ayanna Jackson, Antonian’s Nicole Murff, O’Connor’s Jordan Schenkel, Clemens’ Alexa Ruiz, Reagan’s Kailey Estrada, St. Anthony’s Tammy Jo Grohman, Reagan’s Madeleine Stolzer and Johnson’s Juliana Chavez) from the area. The Javelinas finished 13-1 in the spring — the lone setback being a five-set loss to Angelo State in the conference tournament’s semifinals — and were ranked as high as No. 6 at one point.

With Guzman, Ware and Loren Guerra, a senior from Churchill, on the roster, Texas-Tyler finished 14-1 and was ranked No. 11 nationally. New Braunfels Canyon’s Addison Evans signed with the team and will join Guzman, Ware and Guerra this fall. Eastern New Mexico didn’t play last year because of state-mandated COVID protocols, but has four area athletes on its roster — O’Connor’s Kali Nelson and Grace Ramirez, Harlan’s Mikaela Garvin and Churchill’s Deziree Flowers. Texas Woman’s lineup includes Clemens’ Cassidy Steadman, La Vernia’s Addison Mulroney and Navarro’s Bailey Wozniak.

“I think one of the primary reasons why so many LSC schools recruit athletes from the San Antonio area is the strong high school and club programs,” Texas A&M-Kingsville coach Tanya Allen said. “Athletes are exposed to a high level of play at a young age. We always recruit athletes primarily because they fit within our system and can make our program better. San Antonio has a ton of talent, and luckily it is only a short drive from Kingsville. We don’t simply recruit San Antonio because it is close to Kingsville, but it does help sell families and recruits that want to stay close to home.”

Jackson, who in the spring was named LSC freshman of the year and defensive player of the year, agreed.

“Coming from the same city as some of the girls really helped break the ice my first couple of weeks there, because we always had something to talk about and we also realized how many mutual teammates and friends we shared,” Jackson said. “So, it developed a sense of feeling like you already know a lot of people, which does a lot for a volleyball team and making friends in general. It ensured me that I was going to a school in an area that I would easily get used to, while playing with competitive girls, because I feel that a lot of girls that come out of San Antonio are very skilled.”

In the past, though, skills alone haven’t been enough for area athletes when it came to having post-high school playing options in a sport where being taller and bigger have become more paramount.

Patton can attest to as much. Once upon a time, she was going to be the biggest, baddest thing to step onto a volleyball court. She was going to tower over all others. At least, that was what one doctor told her. Patton’s height projection had her growing to be 6-foot-3, so she played middle blocker with that in mind. Patton is 5-8 and plays at Angelo State.

“I was like, ‘Hey man, I was supposed to be 6-3,'” Patton recalled telling the doctor years later. “You really juked me out.”

The scenario, looking back now, might solicit a few laughs. But it also displays a big hurdle faced by area athletes. While Dallas and Houston consistently produce players who are 6-2 and 6-3, the same can’t be said for this area.

“Genetics,” Patton said, recalling once playing one of the top teams in Dallas when she was a high school freshman and the players on the opponent’s front row were all over 6-feet tall. “We kept up because we just didn’t let the ball hit the ground.”

The San Antonio area, however, has been on the forefront on another landscape of volleyball — the beach.

Sand is their castle

In 2012, Jason Kaiser started “210 Beach” as an avenue for players to keep their skills sharp after the conclusion of the indoor club season. Spurred by what saw at a national event in California that summer, he set designs on building something bigger.

What has followed is a program that annually brings top collegiate beach coaches to town, fostering a pipeline that fuels some of the top beach programs. Twelve of the schools in AVCA’s final top 20 national rankings had area athletes on their rosters — LEE’s Sophie Bengoechea (South Carolina), Clemens’ Shelby O’Neal (Arizona), TMI’s Peyton Crenwelge (Georgia State), Boerne Champion’s Caitlin Moon (Florida State) and Courtney Moon (Florida Atlantic), Smithson Valley’s Maja Kaiser (Southern California), Lauren Domel (Stetson), Bekah Brodbeck (Georgia State) and Jourdanton’s Makenzie Griffin (Long Beach State), New Braunfels’ Hunter Domanski (LSU) and Reagan’s Maddy Salazar (Arizona State), who played two seasons with the Rattlers before transferring to Humble Kingwood. Kaiser was a member of Southern California’s national championship squad this spring.

Texas A&M-Kingsville won the AVCA Division II national title in 2018, was national runner-up in 2019 and national semifinalist this spring. Smithson Valley graduates Macy Berg, Tenley Housler and Lauren Kadilis, O’Connor alum Erin Umbel, Brennan product Kylexus Block, Murff, New Braunfels’ Shelby Tate and Grace Gettys, and New Braunfels Canyon’s Shelby Williams have played parts in the success. Clemens’ Canada Buchanan and La Vernia’s Madelyn Wallace will be freshmen this upcoming season for the Javelinas.

“From my side of it, 210 beach was the start of the beach volleyball growth in San Antonio,” said Berg, who is No. 2 in career wins in school history behind Housler. “Jason Kaiser knew how to recruit indoor girls to join the upcoming sport, grow their skills, and help with recruitment. He helped so many girls develop skills and knowledge about the sport quickly and effectively.

“I’m so proud of the girls from San Antonio that I see playing across the country, whether I know them or not. I love going to tournaments and seeing my friends from high school and hearing about how much they have accomplished. Throughout high school, competition was always difficult, so I’m happy to see that these girls are able to continue their growth and accomplish so much.”

The prospects for success appear as if they might go on for some time for 210 Beach, which recently won the Beach Volleyball Clubs of America (BVCA) national championship July 12-16 in Huntington Beach, Calif. Hailey Hamlett, Camdyn Doucet, Elin Kaiser, Alexis Durish, Kylie Wickley, Sadie Nelson, Karynn Garrow, Emilia Guerra, Naomi Ortiz and Chloe Martin teamed to win the Division I crown, while Kenzie Thomas, Katie Felts, Kastyn Hoffman, Reagan Elizondo, Elizabeth Williams, Ashtyn Rheinlaender, Ashlyn Caddell, Audrey Choi, Kylan McCoy and Sophia Hernandez combined for third place in Division II.

Doucet (Stanford), Hamlett (TCU), Martin (Loyola-Marymount) and Wickley (Arizona State) will be freshmen this fall, while Kaiser (Arizona), Nelson (South Carolina) and Durish (Florida State), who previously played at Reagan before moving to Florida, have made pledges. Garrow, a two-time TAPPS all-state performer at Boerne Geneva, made the jump from indoor to the sand and has committed to Grand Canyon in Arizona.

“Nowadays, if you want to play indoor, you have to be 6-5, 6-6 to be a middle, 6-3 to be an outside (hitter); 6-foot to be a setter,” Garrow said. “The heights are just increasing so much. If you are a 6-1 player in beach, there’s a good chance you’re going to get a scholarship somewhere. I just kind of realized I liked this so much more than indoors and I can see myself go further in this than indoor.”

A path to indoor success, however, isn’t a long shot — even as scholarships become more in demand. According to a 2018-19 study by the National Federation of State High School Associations, Texas had 50,500 girls playing volleyball, the most in any state and nearly 5,000 more than second-place California.

Brandeis’ Jayln Gibson and Carlee Pharris, both bound to TCU, headline the Class of 2022. Cornerstone’s Nayeli Gonzalez and Anderson and Alamo Heights’ Hannah Whittingstall are among the nation’s top prospects in the Class of 2023. Churchill’s Averie Dembickie was named an All-American this summer after leading her local club team to a second-place finish in the Under-16 competition at the AAU national championship in Orlando, and Cornerstone libero Alyssa Manitzas recently committed to play at Notre Dame.

After the 2020 club season was shuttered by the COVID-19 pandemic, athletes and coaches spent this past spring and summer making up for lost time. A prime moment to do so came in late June and early July when teams from across the country gathered in Las Vegas for the U.S. Girls Junior National Championships, an opportunity to win a team title and catch the eyes of college coaches.

“I don’t feel like it’s really pressure,” said Gonzalez, a 6-2 junior outside hitter/middle blocker who last fall had 38 kills in a win vs. La Vernia, about being a highly sought-after prospect. “I know that (coaches are) watching before the game, but once the game starts I just completely turn that off. I’m going to find a college that wants me and it’s just going to work from there.”

Reaching another level

From indoor to beach, the San Antonio area has made a mark in volleyball. If Monica Ramon has her way, the impact will also stretch into the boys game.

Ramon, a defensive specialist on Churchill’s 2013 Class 6A state finalist and 2014 state semifinalist squads before playing collegiately at Southeastern Louisiana and St. Mary’s, is a coach at San Antonio Tribe, one of the few local clubs with a boys program.

Tribe has been in place for two years and has an indoor program, with aspirations of adding a beach program in upcoming years. The club competed on a tour with teams from Houston, Dallas, Austin, Oklahoma and Louisiana, with as many as 10 tournaments and a qualifier.

“We’ve noticed that we’re getting more and more interest,” said Ramon, the MVP of the 2017 Heartland Conference tournament. “What we’ve heard a lot from parents is they just didn’t know we existed. They didn’t know boys volleyball was a thing in San Antonio. The interest has kind of been there and now I think it’s growing. I think the word is getting out and it makes us really, really excited.”

Ramon said aspirations are to eventually have three to four teams in each age division, like some clubs in other Texas cities have. Tribe currently has teams in 14s, 16s and 18s and hopes to add on in 12s. With fewer opportunities in men’s volleyball, Ramon hopes the interest will help change that trend.

“That’s one reason why we want to grow the sport in San Antonio, because it’s growing in Austin, Houston and Dallas,” Ramon said. “To be able to see (the players) learn, grow the game, and to kind of see the light-blurb effect when it clicks, and to see the improvement, I think is what’s so amazing. It just continues to make my love for the game grow.”

terrence@terrencesports.com
Twitter: @sa_terrence1