Bohls: Volleyball is on the rise, just like Dripping Springs star Henley Anderson
Henley Anderson is going places.
Very soon.
Just exactly where, she’s not sure yet.
“It’s a fun journey,” she said, “but I can’t get too cocky.”
That’s not a problem for this wise beyond her years yet humble 15-year-old.
Some of you might not have heard about the exploits and talents of this preternatural but grounded sophomore volleyball player from Dripping Springs, but trust me, you will. For sure, everyone in the volleyball world is already acutely aware of this dynamic 6-foot-2 phenom who has taken her sport by storm. Or “6-2 and a centimeter,” she jokes. "My shoes add some height."
By the time she completes her high school career, this very mature, ponytailed outside hitter will probably leave behind a legacy as the greatest volleyball player ever to emerge from Central Texas.
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Anderson’s also the tip of the spear that is high school and college volleyball these days and emblematic of a sport that is catching on like crazy. If there’s anyone who embodies the future of this electric sport, it’s this humble, unaffected teenager who Tuesday night went over the 1,000-kill mark for her career in less than two full seasons.
“What Henley is doing is unheard of,” said Michael Kane, her legendary coach with six state championships. “She is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of kid who is very humble and coachable. How is it possible she’s only 15 and could play for most colleges right now if not start? She has such a high-level skill set. How good is she? It’s going to be scary.”
The tip of the Central Texas iceberg
What’s just as amazing is the depth of great teams in the area, a list that seems to be growing by the day.
As Kane put it, “We should be celebrating arguably the toughest district in Texas, top to bottom.”
Or, as Lake Travis DJ Brian Davis puts it, “the SEC of high school volleyball.”
He should know. His daughter, Adyson, is the Cavaliers’ own sophomore version of Anderson and proved it Tuesday in a showdown with Anderson and the state’s No. 2 team in which fifth-ranked Lake Travis knocked off the 6A defending state champions in four riveting sets.
As if District 26-6A weren’t already gluttony with talent with those two teams, Westlake and star Lily Dee Davis are No. 12 in the state and Anderson is 22-7 with three big prospects, including Arkansas pledge Parker Duncan, a powerful outside hitter. Anderson hitter Jazmine Gaston is headed to Louisiana, and Ashlynn Axtell will play for Troy. And don’t forget Rouse, the state's No. 6 team in 5A, which touts the state’s best setter in Savannah Skopal, who'll play for Rice.
None of this should be surprising because volleyball is taking off to a whole new level. Nebraska recently drew an astounding 92,000-plus for a volleyball game at its football stadium, a scene Anderson definitely wanted to join. ESPN+ has totally discovered the draw that is college volleyball. And right here in our backyard are powerhouses galore and one budding wunderkind who might ultimately compete in the Olympics.
“Volleyball is off the charts right now,” said Kane, a 52-year-old former Air Force veteran who originally thought he’d become a baseball coach. “One mom came up to me after one of our matches and said, ‘Oh, my God, I had no idea how athletic these kids are.’ I said, ‘Where have you been?’ I remember when I started coaching, I thought if I can get kids who can touch 9 feet, it’d be great. Now I have three kids over 10 feet.“
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By Kane’s numbers, somewhere in the neighborhood of 180,000 girls between the ages of 10 and 18 are playing volleyball these days. And that’s just in Texas. The National Federation of State High School Associations cites 454,153 volleyball players — girls’ No. 2 most popular sport but a scant 2,500 behind track and field — and beach volleyball has zoomed from 2,200 to about 6,500 almost overnight.
Ninety colleges in three divisions and NAIA field beach volleyball teams, including Texas now as well as TCU, UTEP and Stephen F. Austin, although nine of the top 10 are on the West Coast, with only Florida State elbowing its way in from elsewhere.
Match of the titans
Central Texas has certainly embraced that fever, which explains why the Tigers and Cavs squared off before more than 700 screaming fans at the Lake Travis gym Tuesday night as two of the state’s top five ranked teams.
And Anderson’s Tigers didn’t even win, bowing to the well-balanced Cavs for the second time this season. That’s how garlic-strong District 26-6A is.
The Tigers were bombarded by the power strokes of Davis, clutch kills from Duke-bound Avery Hamlin and efficient setups from North Florida pledge Kacey Kazmierski, whose mom used to coach Lake Travis and brought the school a pair of state titles in 2010 and 2011, the latter with a sterling 50-0 record.
Davis executed a career-high 16 kills, and Hamlin led with a team-best 18, including a winning swat that completed the biggest swing point of the match in the second set on her final rocket. That was the 37th touch on the climactic point. Kazmierski was impeccable with 50 assists on the night, and the Cavs got production out of St. Edward’s pledge Carrington “KK” Jaimes and libero Cate Haley, who wants to play for MIT.
“I think Texas is the premier state for high school volleyball,” said former Lake Travis coach Jennifer Kazmierski, Kacey's mom and a 5-11 former Texas A&M player who also coached Lake Travis to two state titles. “The game is definitely bigger now. And faster. Henley’s a blue-chipper and an amazing player.”
In Kazmierski's opinion, the game is growing exponentially partly because it’s an indoor sport in a state where it’s kind of hot outside if you hadn’t noticed, it’s a fast-paced game, and a lot of young girls are migrating from basketball to volleyball because the latter is physically demanding without the constant collisions and elbows of basketball, and size isn’t as exclusionary in volleyball.
“In volleyball, you don’t have to be 6-3,” she said. “You can be 5-6 or 5-7 and compete. And over 90 schools carry beach volleyball now. I started playing volleyball in the eighth grade, but most are starting by the fifth or sixth grade now.”
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A program on the rise
The quality is eye-popping, as evidenced by the frenetic pace of play; the change from side-based to rally scoring, in which a point is earned on every play; and the clear talent on the floor. Lake Travis, which will host Westlake on Friday night, has now beaten the Tigers twice this season despite the presence of Anderson and other talented teammates off Dripping Springs’ defending 6A state title squad.
“I wouldn’t say we have their number because they beat us when it counted” in last year’s regional finals, said Brandace Boren, Lake Travis’ bubbly ninth-year coach, whose team has won District 26-6A four years running. “They’re very well-coached. Everybody’s going to have to be on their A game against them.”
She’s after her first title and chose the theme “Conquering the Mountain” for this year’s club. They printed up T-shirts with a photo of three peaks on the back. The Cavaliers clearly are making the ascent with a 33-4 record and a nine-match winning streak, and the Tigers will always be in their way.
“I wanted it,” said a supercompetitive Davis, who's been a close friend of Anderson’s from their days as teammates on the Austin Performance Club when they car-pooled together and had sleepovers. “I think we can outhit anybody. It doesn’t matter who’s on the other side.”
That includes Anderson, who has a ferocious right arm, great footwork and a deft dexterity that shows up in her well-placed tips but could develop more upper-body strength. On this night, Lake Travis stuck to its game plan by serving directly at her to try to exhaust her.
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“Henley’s going to get her kills,” Boren said. “We served to her all game with the intent to wear her out. She’s such a great player, and she’s able to put a team on her back.”
Anderson had 19 kills but was held to an uncharacteristic .224 hitting percentage and called it “a rough game." Kane wasn’t particularly happy with his club either, one that has star power besides Anderson in Riley Certain, Sydney Lund and Missouri-bound Ashley Euston.
“We got outworked. It was that simple,” a visibly frustrated Kane said. “We came out looking flat, and they got us on our heels. But we won state last year and we didn’t win the district. We weren’t playing for the state championship tonight.”
Meaning there’s more to come.
But these two might meet once again in the playoffs in a couple of months if Anderson flips the script on Lake Travis and repeats the Tigers’ title run. They also meet Oct. 20 in the penultimate regular-season game.
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Kane’s something of a legend in the area, having won state twice with the Drip and four times with St. Michael’s and produced six Final Four teams in the past decade. His disciplined teams constantly produce Division I products, three of them off last year’s team, including Final Four MVP MacKenzie Plante, who’s at Tennessee.
The volleyball scene is littered with skilled players like Westlake’s Lily Dee Davis — a Texas beach volleyball pledge — and at least three top prospects at 22-7 Anderson High.
'Just a normal, goofy 15-year-old'
Anderson’s the prize of the bunch, however, and college coaches are salivating over the chance to land this gifted athlete who had 540 kills last year as a freshman. She’s vicious at the net and a weapon all over the floor, a floor she never leaves, playing in all six rotations. She’s also a student of the game, with a constantly vigil over volleyball videos to the point she often reaches out to Kane with ideas. “She watches film like no other,” her dad, D Anderson, said.
Those who go after her better have their stuff together. Henley carries a 3.80 GPA, puts her faith in God first and longs to be a sports journalist someday. One of the best things about her, though, is she’s not all that impressed with herself.
“She’s just a normal, goofy 15-year-old,” Kane said.
Who can jump through the roof and carry a team on her back.
Recruiting rules prohibit colleges from offering her a scholarship until next June 15, before her junior year, and Kane said, “I’m assuming there will be a truckload of offers that day. She’s arguably the No. 1 recruit in the country by her age.”
Texas, the defending national champion and alma mater of Henley's mother, Robbin, is pursuing her hard just as Baylor and Nebraska are. Anderson doesn’t let on who’s the favorite and said, “I have a solid top three” but is open to Stanford and USC. She’s been to camps at Texas, Baylor and Nebraska, and her dad believes she might be leaning toward staying in state.
“First, she’s a Texas girl and would like to represent Texas,” said her father, a pilot for Southwest Airlines for 25 years. “But that doesn’t mean it’ll be Texas. She loved Nebraska, too.”
Anderson’s even been spotted decked out in the garb of those top three schools, but she’s oblivious to any not-so-subtle messages her attire might be sending. “I’ve warned her about that,” her father said, “but she just says, ‘Dad, I like the texture.’ ”
She’s certainly got the fabric to become an even bigger star than she already is. It’s not uncommon for girls on other teams to ask for photos with her, and the girl her former teammate Plante called “Baby Hen” is as sociable as they come.
In fact, she started out in swimming and loved it but missed the camaraderie and chemistry of a truer team sport. She’s been a natural at a lot of things her entire life. Her father said she could always throw a baseball like a boy, could easily throw a football spiral and never needed training wheels on her bike. She loves shooting skeet and is an avid snow skier, a not undangerous hobby that worries her coaches.
But volleyball’s her future. That much is clear.
Next week she’ll head to Colorado Springs to take part in the National Training Development program, a launching pad for the most elite girls in the country, and she’ll go to Anaheim in December for more training. The Paris Olympics are coming too soon for her, but she clearly has her sights set on the Summer Games at some point.
“That’s my dream,” she said.
Well, at least one of them. And all those college recruiters who can’t wait until June 15. They have a dream as well.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Henley Anderson brings a rare talent to star-studded volleyball area
