The 2024 recruiting class for the Nebraska volleyball team is filling up fast.
Ayden Ames announced her verbal commitment to the Huskers on Saturday. She's the third known high school junior to pledge to NU.Â
The 6-foot-4 middle blocker from Prosper, Texas, joins Skyler Pierce (outside hitter from Lenexa, Kansas) and Olivia Mauch (libero from Bennington) in the class.
The class may not get much larger, with a lot of the work being done in the first seven days the NCAA allowed coaches to recruit the 2024 class.
Even by Nebraska volleyball standards, this is fast. Last summer, Nebraska didn’t have its first commitment from a high school junior until mid-July.
Ames is ranked in the top 10 nationally by two recruiting sites, No. 5 by and No. 7 from Prep Dig.
Later this summer, Ames has been invited to a tryout with the United States junior national team.
Ames is a special athlete who has also played as an all-around outside hitter for her high school team and a right-side hitter for her club team. But she expects to play middle blocker in college. She was born in California before moving to Texas about one year ago. Soccer was her sport growing up, and she only got into volleyball in middle school.
Her first recruiting call with Nebraska coach John Cook was on June 15, the first day allowed.
“I was so nervous,†Ames said of the call. “I was talking to the big man of volleyball, really. But once I got going it felt so comfortable for me to talk to a coaching staff like that.â€
She accepted the offer four days later but waited until Saturday to announce it.
“I was just so set. I had to commit super-fast,†Ames said. “Well, I didn’t have to, but it was a personal choice. I just felt so ready.â€
Ames said some of the factors in her decision were that she felt like Nebraska’s staff can help her achieve her dream of playing for the United States national team after college, that Nebraska is a short flight from Dallas and how big Nebraska volleyball seems to be.
“I love all of the support that the town puts into the University of Nebraska, especially the volleyball program,†Ames said. “I’m so excited to be a part of an environment like that. It just makes me love the sport even more knowing that my town has my back.â€
Her other finalists were Wisconsin and Ohio State.
“I just know that I had to go Big Ten volleyball. It’s my favorite. You can’t beat it,†Ames said.
Nebraska also already has a strong recruiting class for the group of high school seniors. Husker commit Harper Murray is ranked No. 1 by for the 2023 recruiting class. The other Nebraska commits for that class are setter Bergen Reilly, right-side hitter Caroline Jurevicius and middle blocker Andi Jackson.
Ames met many of the other recruits in Nebraska’s next two classes last summer at Nebraska’s Dream Team camp.
“It’s a great group of girls — so talented and so nice. I’m so excited,†Ames said.
Photos: Nebraska volleyball officially opens 2022 season with spring game in Grand Island