Champlin Park's Sydney Hilley is the Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year in volleyball

Having met, and largely exceeded, every challenge placed before her on the volleyball court, Sydney Hilley of Champlin Park stepped outside her comfort zone this season.

She's been a setter most of her life and she'll be a setter when plays collegiately for Wisconsin. When a chance arose to do something she'd never done before, she jumped at it.

Hilley moved to outside hitter — the volleyball equivalent of a quarterback moving to wide receiver — hoping to see what it's like to terminate some of those juicy sets she had been so used to giving.

It worked out even better than she expected. Hilley knocked down 555 kills and was the catalyst for the Rebels' run to a third consecutive Class 3A state tournament berth. It also landed her a second consecutive selection as the Star Tribune Metro Volleyball Player of the Year.

"It's been awesome," said Hilley of her one-year position change. "Knowing I'll never get the chance to do this again, I just wanted to go out with a bang."

More like a resounding boom, the sound that generally follows one of Hilley's powerful kills. She's become so feared as a hitter that opposing fans cheer wildly when one of her kill attempts is dug out and play continues.

"She is so good at everything," said Osseo senior outside hitter Tina Boe, a high school opponent and club volleyball teammate of Hilley's. "She's only been doing this for a year and she's already better than me."

"Tina is so talented and so humble," she said. "I'm just lucky to be friends with her and have had the chance to play with her."

That humility always has been a strength of Hilley's. Her move to outside hitter was as much about Rebels coach John Yunker maximizing his team's talent as it was about throwing Hilley a bone.

Champlin Park lost some big hitters to graduation from its 2015 team and had a future Division I setter in sophomore Izzy Ashburn waiting in the wings. It could be argued that Hilley took one for the team this year.

"Sydney's such a great player that she can do just about anything," Yunker said.

"She's so unselfish. She's all about making the team better. Players like her don't come around very often."

"I didn't say good luck or anything like that," Jackson said. "I just told her I loved her. That's all. I'm a little biased, but I've been [coaching volleyball] in Minnesota for over 20 years and I don't think we've ever had a better all-around player in this state than Sydney Hilley."

Hilley's list of career achievements is lengthy. She and her Minnesota Select teammates won a USA Volleyball national club championship last summer. She was a setter for Team USA in the 2015 World Under-18 Championships in Peru (it finished second) and owns a National Player of the Year award from prepvolleyball.com.

There's just one thing left on her to-do list before she heads east for college.

"I want to have brought a state championship to my school," Hilley said. "That is my only goal. We've had 25 years without a state championship, and I want to bring one back."