Sky’s the limit for Botkin, Pearland
Oilers’ key player will see her role expand for area’s top-ranked team
She already is well-accomplished.
Pearland’s Brooke Botkin has recorded more than 1,000 kills in high school and was part of USA Volleyball’s A1 youth national team this summer, helping her garner Greater Houston Volleyball Coaches Association’s Preseason Player of the Year honors.
And now she is looking to expand her game.
The junior standout will set alongside senior teammate Caroline Shecterle in the Oilers’ 6-2 offense this year as Pearland tries to add a deeper playoff run to what shapes up as a another outstanding season.
“It’s going to improve my setting because it’s different hitters,” Botkin said.
“In club, I’m always used to the same hitters, so this will open my eyes to other setters and improve my skills.”
Most players dream of one day reaching Botkin’s skill level, but her ceiling is incredibly high.
Botkin started playing in seventh grade and was a force before high school.
“She can play all the way around,” Oilers coach John Turner said. “She can pass (and) play defense. She’s one of our primary passers in serve-receive, which is nice, and she’s setting. When she’s playing front row, we bring her back to pass. She’s a very good blocker. She’s an allaround very good player.”
But it is not just Botkin’s game that is growing.
Taller than 6 feet before she was a freshman, Botkin grew nearly 2 inches during this past offseason.
California dreamin’
That is bad news for her opponents but great for Southern Cal.
“Colleges look for taller setters to stay in and hit also, which is what I do, so you can save subs,” said Botkin, who committed to the Trojans after her freshman season.
Turner said, at first, he was worried about her pledging so early, but Botkin never wavered in her love for USC, which won national championships in 2002 and 2003, and has 14 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
“(USC volleyball coach) Mick Haley called me and told me it was probably the easiest (pledge) he’s ever had because she walked up and said, ‘Coach, what do I have to do to sign?’ ” Turner said.
Botkin, who grew up playing soccer, always rooted for the Trojans.
She appreciated the program’s knack for producing Olympians and, when she had the chance to secure her spot in the program, she didn’t hesitate.
“Even when I was playing soccer, I always wanted to go to USC because I love California and the Los Angeles area,” Botkin said. “(But) I had no idea they were even recruiting me. At one tournament, they told me they wanted me to take a visit, so I went up over spring break of my freshman year … and they asked me on the last day of my visit.”
Botkin’s long-term goal is to compete in the Olympics, so playing for the Trojans is an ideal fit.
As a member of USA Volleyball’s GYA1 training team, she is among the top 33 young players in the country.
She spent 10 days in Des Moines, Iowa, last month at the High Performance Championships. If she makes the 12-member youth national team next summer, she will spend August competing internationally.
“That’s definitely one of my biggest dreams,” Botkin said. “That’s the USA pipeline for the Olympics, so I really want to make that team, and I’m hoping I do next year.”
Unfinished business
But first she is focusing on having a productive junior season at Pearland.
Botkin would like to break the school’s record for kills in a match — she had 28 against Clear Creek last year; the mark is 36 — and help the Oilers, who are the area’s top-ranked Class 6A team in the preseason, reach the state tournament.
After winning 41 games last season, Pearland lost to Clear Falls in the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
“Moving to setting is going to take a little bit of the back-row attack away from her, because we used her on the back row also, as far as attacking is concerned, last year,” Turner said. “But I really don’t see her kills going down that much because we’re still going to give her the ball a whole lot.”