Minnesota's volleyball talent pool runs deep

The Minnesota high school volleyball bar was raised by the Class of 2007, with graduates scattering to major college programs near and far. The Class of 2009 also is worth watching; it's another talented group, yes, but it also provides a fresh gauge on a sport that is growing by leaps and spikes.

Look at the numbers and learn that more young girls are playing volleyball in Minnesota than almost anywhere in the country.

Look at the talent in Minnesota and see what Gophers coach Mike Hebert calls "a volleyball mecca."I've seen a steady, unstoppable evolution of coaching ability and increased skill in the talent pool in the state of Minnesota," said Hebert, the Gophers coach since 1996. "It's been kind of fun to watch. I don't think a lot of people would pick Minneapolis-St. Paul as a hotbed for the sport."

Talk to players from the Class of '09, as well as their coaches, and know that this year's high school juniors could be one of the best classes in history by the time they receive their diplomas.

"You don't want to devalue the class ahead of it or the class behind it, but this class does have some special players, that's for sure," Wayzata coach Scott Jackson said.

Two of them already have made verbal college commitments: St. Michael-Albertville's Katherine Harms with the Gophers and Wayzata's Tia Gaffen with Georgia Tech. They are following in some talent-laden footsteps.

Two years ago, a team of 17-and-under players from the Burnsville-based Northern Lights club won a Junior Olympic national championship. Of the nine players on that team, eight are now playing Division I volleyball. Five are in the Big Ten, including the Gophers' freshmen trio of Hailey Cowles (Eden Prairie High School), Brook Dieter (Bloomington Kennedy) and Lauren Gibbemeyer (Cretin-Derham Hall). Also in the Big Ten are Susan Halverson (Apple Valley) at Ohio State and Naomi Johnson (Bloomington Kennedy) at Northwestern.

Hebert has made scholarship offers over the years to several players, including Dieter and Gibbemeyer, before they began their junior year in high school. The latest in that line is Harms, a 6-foot outside hitter.

Along with Harms and Gaffen, other talented juniors include setter Catherine Yager, who teams with Harms at St. Michael-Albertville, and outside hitters Amy Braun of Lakeville North, Brittany Chambers of Jordan and Lauren Cipperly of Andover. Another top junior, Blaine middle hitter Arriel Mewhorter, suffered a knee injury playing club volleyball in April and could be sidelined for much of the regular season.

The multitalented Chambers, who was named the national sophomore of the year by a volleyball website, is considering playing basketball in college. Harms might be the marquee volleyball player among the junior class despite being a newcomer to Twin Cities high school circles.

That's because she attended Little Falls High School until this fall. The family moved 70 miles south to the St. Michael-Albertville area when her father, an orthopedic surgeon, began a new job. That was welcome news for St. Michael-Albertville coach John Yunker.

"She 6 feet tall, she's lefthanded and she touches almost 10 feet," Yunker said. "She's very athletic and she's a real nice kid who works hard and does well."

"I was really big into basketball, but I kind of made a switch when I started playing club volleyball a couple years ago," Harms said.

Jackson, who is director of the Minnesota Select volleyball club, said the growth of club volleyball has had a strong impact on the high school game.

"You'll go to a high school varsity match and you'll see 14 girls who have all touched the ball a ton over the course of the past year," he said. "So you see better ball control, and better ball control allows the better athletes to shine. Your [players like] Katherine Harms and Tia Gaffen really get a chance to thump some balls because the kids behind them are playing great back row with great ball-control skills."