Palazzolo candidate forMiss Volleyball
You snooze, you lose.
What does that mean anyway? Sleep in 10minutes and you lose 10 pounds? Grab an extra 30minutes of shut eye and you don’t hear the folks from Publishers Clearing House at the front door and you miss out on your prize of $1,000 a week for the rest of your life?
Eisenhower senior Sydney Palazzolo was simply trying to sleep in a couple Saturday mornings ago when her mom came rushing into her bedroom and announced there was a deer in the backyard.
For the love of Bambi, what that ....!
“I rushed downstairs and my whole team was there,” said Palazzolo. “There was no deer. I stood in shock. They told me I was one of the nominees for Miss Volleyball. Apparently it had been announced the night before but I did not know it.”
The Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association (MIVCA) selects 10 of the state’s top players for Miss Volleyball consideration.
The others are Mercy’s Julia Bishop and Charli Atiemo, Hudson’s Callie Mae Bauer, Mikayla Haut of Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central, Lake Odessa Lakewood’s Aubrey O’Gorman, Abby Olin of Coopersville, Lowell’s Jenna Reitsma, Anna Smith of Mendon and Grand Rapid Christian’s Addie Vander Weide.
This is Palazzolo’s fourth year on coach Caitlyn LaPratt’s team. As a junior, she finished the season with over 1,000 kills, the first junior at Ike to ever reach that mark. So far this season, she is averaging over six kills per set and has a .348 hitting percentage. She leads the Eagles with 180 kills.
“Sydney is a great leader,” said LaPratt. “She plays at a very high level. She has a tremendous volleyball IQ. When she found out about the Miss Volleyball nomination, she was in tears. She has worked so hard over the years.”
It’s not just Sydney’s mom rushing into the bedroom that wakes her up. So does the start of pretty much any volleyball match. The competition heat sup, a switch gets flipped and well, Dr. Jekyll meet Sydney Hyde.
“When you see Sydney swing, it does not match her personality,” said her coach.
Translated; Palazzolo is the definition of sweetness and light most of the time. She is caring and compassionate and embraces a grade point average that is just an eye tic below 4.0.
However, when the volleyball arcs just right and Mercury is aligned with Mars and the moon is in the seventh house and a perfect setup becomes a perfectly devastating kill.
“The greatest moments in volleyball are when I am on the outside and I can take a big approach. The setter puts the ball in a perfect spot and I can pound it right down the middle. When that hap----
pens, I jump up and down and go celebrate with my teammates,” said Palazzolo.
One player’s celebration is an opponent’s first appointment with a therapist.
“Sydney is a very nice person, but something changes when she is on the court. She controls a lot of our offense. Being 6-2, she is hard to stop. She can jump very well. Really, she can hit a lot of shots that a lot of other kids cannot hit. Once Sydney gets rolling the team gets excited. She brings the heat. I don’t know where it comes from. She is just the sweetest kid, but all of a sudden a switch flips,” said LaPratt.
Palazzolo has committed to High Point University, an NCAA Division I school located in High Point, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the Big South Conference.
While she is not yet certain, she is thinking about pursuing a degree in pharmacy.
“My dad is a respiratory therapist. My mom retired after 20 years as a postal inspector. She is a school nurse now. I enjoy science classes, and especially chemistry, and I have always been intrigued by what we’re learning in those classes,” said Palazzolo.
The team chemistry at Eisenhower is outstanding, thanks in large part to veteran players like Palazzolo.
There are seven returning players and seven newcomers on the roster.
With Thursday’ s MAC Red win over Anchor Bay, the Eisenhower Eagles moved to 5-0 in the division. They are 12-2 overall. Palazzolo had 25 kills, 14 digs, four aces and a block in that match.
“Sydney meshes well with everyone,” said her high school coach. “We have really great team chemistry. I don’t see Sydney or any of the veteran players giving the newer kids the cold shoulder. She is verymuch a team player.”
A coach’s dream. An opponent’s nightmare. A deer in the backyard and oh dear, that was a lie. There’s a Miss Volleyball candidate playing at Eisenhower.