Higareda among nation's top volleyball players

She was too good to be on the youth court. That much was obvious.

Kenzie Higareda has always been way better at passing and digging a volleyball than players her own age.

Sometimes the older ones can’t keep up with the Benton Middle School eighth-grader, either.

Higareda is that good.

So good, in fact, that she was one of 33 players chosen from a nationwide tryout to compete in the 2010 USA Volleyball High Performance Championships as a member of the A1 Select Team for 13-to-14-year-old girls.

“When I made it, I started crying. I was so happy,” Higareda said. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I need to practice. I need to get to work.’”

For the past week, the future Forest Park Bruin has been in Wisconsin, training with collegiate coaches and preparing to play in an international style tournament that will conclude Friday.

At 13, she is still one of the youngest athletes – and the only one from Virginia -- chosen for the select program. Freedom middle hitter Felicia Huerta made the High Performance youth roster, while Forest Park setter Katie Scherber and outside hitter Mara Beane were chosen as alternates.

“There are definitely better players in this age group,” said Higareda, a libero who attended the High Performance camp for girls’ ages 12-to-13 last summer. “It pushes me to do my best and play my hardest. Playing against the older girls makes me better.”

Before she was even old enough to join a club team, Higareda knew she wanted to be a part of the back row. She was in such a rush to play the same position as her older sister, Kirsten, that the Clash Volleyball Club added her to their U12 team when she was 9.

The following year, Kenzie switched to Dale City-based Ichiban, where she has earned three consecutive “most valuable player” awards and recently helped the U15 team capture the Velocity VBC Invitational championship and reach the semifinals of the Chesapeake Regional Tournament.

“This season, Kenzie did not just play in the back row. She played all of the way around as an outside hitter. She was my primary passer in serve receive, and did well at the net,” Ichiban coach Christina Woolwine said. “We competed against tall opponents and, because her ball control is good, she was able to place the ball either by tipping, avoiding the block or making a roll shot to score points.

“It was interesting to see teams target her on serve receive at first because she was the smallest on the team and then go away from her towards the end of the match. I received many compliments about Kenzie from coaches, players and referees. Kenzie is a very talented volleyball player and can go very far with continued proper training, good work ethic and her desire to play and compete at the highest level.”

Higareda already has skills that rival her sister, a Virginia Tech junior who graduated with Bruins’ school records for career digs (908), single-season digs (391) and digs in a single match (42). Yet she won’t play her first varsity high school match until next fall.

“Kenzie is fast and strong and has a good vertical [leap]. She is intelligent, and reacts correctly to situations quickly. Her potential, however, will ultimately rely on how hard she works, how much she puts in to the game mentally and physically,” Woolwine said. “She cannot do it by herself though. She needs to continue to get proper training and to be pushed to play out of her comfort zones.”

She’s so far ahead of other middle school players that she lasted only a few passes on the youth court during tryouts before High Performance officials moved her to the junior court.

“I’ve had girls that are like 6-foot-3 hitting at me, so I’m pretty used to it,” she said. “My arms would be, like, bright red. But it’s awesome when you dig a ball and they don’t think you’re going to get it, but you do.”

Over the past five club seasons, Higareda has nearly perfected the nuances of making smooth passes and moving forward to receive a ball rather than side-to-side.

“Reading the ball is the most important thing in volleyball,” she said.

And few 13-year-olds in the country do it better than Higareda, who has made it impossible for anyone to judge her by her height.

“Sometimes hitters think they can get me because I’m so small, but they don’t,” said Higareda, who has a nearly two-foot vertical leap.

“It doesn’t really matter the size you are,” she said. “It matters what’s in your heart and what you want.”