The Faces of the Class of '28: The Stories We Remember

Faces of the 2028 Top 100:

To Us They Are STORIES Not Rankings Chapter 1

To me, the ranking # hasn't mattered. I've always gotten to this point in the recruiting process and taken a breath and just looked back on the 2-3 years of qualifiers, convention centers, BallerTV subscriptions, and plane rides around the US to watch this particular group of "NEXT STARS of the NCAA."  Interviewing them, meeting their parents, coaches, siblings, and teammates, just to get to this point.  Learning about their favorite foods or that they love dogs as much as I do.  Maybe some random thing that I have shared on the air, and how someone in their family has done or likes the same thing.  How about watching them 3 years ago as a 14-year-old playing up an age group at Nationals and looking like a 10-year-old and having to almost cancel the interview if they said "Yes, Sir" for a 90th time:).  The amazing part of this job for me has always been the STORIES that come with covering tomorrow's NCAA All-Americans and National Champions.  

Who the heck cares if someone thinks they are ranked #71 or #17?  I still remember interviewing Nayellis Cabello and Izzy Starck at UA All-American practice 3 years ago, and I could have talked leadership, toughness, and commitment with Starck for another two hours, and Cabello was friends with everyone in that gym and brought energy even at 8:15 AM during an All-Star practice.  I had zero clue who they were, but I knew I would cheer for them at the next level because of their stories.  I don't think the VB Media does anywhere close to an average job of telling the STORIES of the top players in the sport, especially at the college level, and definitely not real stories at that.  I understand why sites at our level don't do it, because rankings sell subscriptions, and it's sad that that is all clubs promote and push, because the leaders in the sport so many times aren't the ones with the glowing, shiny resumes, but the ones with the life stories we never truly get to know in this sport.

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So with all of that this year I decided to lead up to our Class of '28 Top 100 by doing a series called the Faces of the Class of 2028.  Taking 4 athletes each "Chapter," giving them a nickname, and telling a brief story on what I will remember them for, and what story about them made an impact on me while covering them.  Funny, serious, both, who knows.  This is why I still do this job, because of the athletes who are making impacts with who they are, in hopes that more of the VB World will hopefully get to know them someday.

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Madlen Gloessner - Colorado Middle - "Confident Voice of Change"

I still remember the interview with Madlen following her U17 National Team experience, where she talked about the squad learning how they didn't have a college coach leading the team, but instead a mix of USA VB staff and pro coaches, etc.  She talked about how relieved all the athletes were and how they truly felt at ease, and that they could be themselves, learn from new coaches, and didn't have to try and impress a college coach "like they were trying out for someone."  Madlen touched directly on a conversation so many in college volleyball have (off the record, of course, as they don't want to make waves) about how unfair it is for college coaches to head up or even be assistant coaches on the U17-U21 National Program for NTDP.  Not only is it an unfair coaching, recruiting, and potential portal advantage, but it obviously isn't the most comfortable situation for athletes knowing they are "trying out" for someone who they are trying to impress to recruit them.

Gloessner also talks often about being in a good headspace and loving her new club because of the higher level of competition she is playing this season, but does these things in a very honest and frank way that is hard to take as negative in any way.  I have commented that she is the type of positive, strong, and confident young voice that the sport needs MANY MORE OF to push for more player-led rights in the future, and I have so much respect for Gloessner in how she carries herself as a player and around her friends in the USA gym.  Madlen is from the same state as Andi Jackson and has talked with her often.  She carries that positive vibe and a confident, upbeat energy with her, but also one that won't be taken for granted or pushed around.  "The NEXT GEN LEADER" type

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Averi Bridges - Nebraska Libero - "Tiny Vegas"

I've talked multiple times now about Averi's welcome to big stage moment vs. WAVE in Las Vegas.  I don't know why that match hit me so much, but she just seemed so tiny out there two full years ago now.  She epitomizes seizing your opportunity. She had the spotlight (well, actually, she didn't have the spotlight; WAVE and Ireland Real had it). Averi just snatched it from them with her amazing play in that match.  But the thing people need to realize is that she continued to play very, very well after the match once coaches started watching her more closely.  I need to see if anyone has that on Hudl, or BallerTV has it in the archives still.  See how much of my reply is actual and how much "USA Nationals folklore I've created in my head:)

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Tamaine Ainu'u - Hawaii Setter - "The Most Loyal Warrior"

I learned of Tamaine about this time last year when she won the starting setter position for the U19 National Team, and word of her talents quickly spread across the volleyball world.  I then got to meet her and interview her at Husker Dream Team Camp 6 weeks later.  You could instantly tell there was something honest, genuine, and sincere about Ainu'u off the court.  On the court, the athleticism and talent were obvious early on, and then you learned about the intensity and competitive fire when you talk with her father.  "She learned in the barn with her cousins.  We rotated sports every hour a different ball so she learned to play everything, but she learned to COMPETE at anything." her father told me this September when we talked before the Durango HS Tournament.  "We didn't really have a net or anything, so we put a piece of tape across the barn for a net.  She has always been a hitter on her club team because that's what they needed her to be, but she wanted to be a setter, so she asked me if I would teach her.  We practice in her extra time, but this is her first year being a setter.  She loves playing setter, but Tamaine will always do what she is asked by her trainer (coach) and is best for her team."

Now, anyone who knows me at all will know that about 5 seconds of talks like that have me ready to run through a wall supporting kids like that, but I hadn't talked with the setter herself much yet, and sometimes parents stretch things a bit too make their children look really good.  So when T and I had a few minutes to chat, I asked the setter/OH about playing in the barn and multiple sports with her cousins.  "Oh yes, we all learned to play together so we each could have a chance to play our favorite.  It was fun playing everything."  Then I asked about not getting to play setter until this year.  "Well, my team and trainer needed me to be a hitter, so that's what I played."  The direct no-nonsense answer was a statement in itself; she wasn't faking it or making it up.  That is the way it was; she was happy to play OH because that is what her trainer told her to do.  When you watch Ainu'u with her teammates, and you watch her in matches, she is totally locked in and wants to win BAD.  When you watch her in the "training lab," she is more cerebral and focused on her technique and getting better, not hard on herself at all for making mistakes.  I didn't understand at first why she was pulling away as the #1 setter in the class, but it's everything she does.  Loyalty, TEAM, Quiet LEADERSHIP, and gifted athleticism for a setter, plus that competitive fight that I don't think anyone has truly seen quite yet.  She is special and is the whole package that hasn't been unwrapped in the US yet.

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Chelsea Torrance - Georgia Setter - "The Reliever"

"Hey, make sure you are ready when your # is called." Coach talk 101 for a thousand years.  Chelsea Torrance was listening and was ready for her turn when a teammate went down during the opening weekend of the season at the Atlanta-based A5 volleyball academy.  Torrance was not an unknown in the recruiting world, but did not go in as A5's top setter on the roster, and it was not known how much she was going to play for the squad as they headed to Dallas and the season opener.  That all changed when the team starter went down with a serious lower leg injury, and just like that, A5's depth was tested, and Chelsea got the call from the bullpen.  She came in and led the squad the rest of the tourney, and she hasn't looked back. Things got crazy in a hurry for Torrance after that, with her name circulating and buzzing as A5 headed to Triple Crown, and they had many new coaches there to check her out.  She was a busy girl indeed, so busy we tried scheduling interviews 3-4 times, and schedules kept conflicting, but kept chatting as we were trying to schedule.  Torrance talked about all the new attention and said how exciting it was, but how she tried to just keep working each day.  "I'm trying to continue to work on the things I was before and still improve.  We have so many coaches in our gym for practice, you never know who they are here to see, so I try to work my hardest every day."

Being on the nation's number 1-ranked 16s Open teams, you are going to be seen all season long, but the list of schools lining up to get Chelsea to camp is insane right now, so chances are that you will be potentially signed at big-time programs for next season. So to every coach who ever used that expression, "bench players, you have to stay ready, you never know when you will be needed." They can make a big old poster of Chelsea Torrance when she gets to college and tell her story because she absolutely made the most of her opportunity, and we will see what happens now in June because of it!

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