When it came time for Skyler Pierce to join Olathe (Kansas) Northwest's high school volleyball program, Pierce's parents had a question.
"Can freshmen play varsity?" they asked coach Barry Lenth.
The answer was yes — and then it was time for summer workouts.
“She came to some open gyms over the summer and, yeah, it was a no-brainer,†Lenth said. “As soon as she stepped on the court I’m like, ‘OK, she’s going to be our outside.’â€
The Nebraska volleyball commit started as a freshman, along with several others in her grade, and the team finished second at state.
Nearly two years later, Pierce is one of the best-known high school volleyball players in the nation. She started Nebraska’s summer recruiting run with a bang, giving the Huskers the No. 1 prospect in the nation when she committed in June.
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Two more commits quickly followed — Bennington libero Olivia Mauch and Prosper, Texas, middle blocker Ayden Ames — and Nebraska will probably have another top-5 recruiting class in 2024.
Pierce’s coaches and recruiting analysts are wowed by her elite skills as a hitter, but her maturity and character also stand out.
Chris Fitzgerald, a high school coach and an analyst for Prep Dig, makes the national recruit rankings with consultation from a network of regional analysts and club coaches.
He’s based in Wisconsin, so he’s seen Pierce play about 20 times.
“She just flies,†Fitzgerald said. “For a 16-year-old still getting used to long arms and legs she’s definitely somebody who is able to get up high and she has a really high contact point. She can do that from the front row and the back row. She can go against the big blocks.â€
How did Prep Dig settle on Pierce as its No. 1 player for the 2024 recruiting class?
“Who are the athletes who are making the biggest impact at the highest level of play,†Fitzgerald said. “And for Skyler, she’s one of the top players on the top club team in the country for her age level. And (KC Dynasty) won the biggest club tournament in the country in February, they won the 2021 national title and this year they made it to the final four.
"They just stormed through their schedule, and to have a player like that who has such a big impact who allows her other teammates to really be successful was what decided it for us.â€
In the rankings, Pierce is No. 9.
Pierce will be a junior this fall. Her team finished second at state when she was a freshman and third last season. She’s been first-team all-state both seasons. As a sophomore, she ranked second in the state in kills with 425 (4.3 per set) with a .254 hitting percentage.
Her high school coach said Pierce is both an elite player and person.
“We were at a camp and some of the girls got their stuff and just started walking away and there is one girl still doing her shoes and Skyler just sat there and was waiting, and waited until the last girl got her shoes on and then the jogged to catch up with the group,†Lenth said. “She does stuff like that.â€
Pierce is a “legit†6-foot-3, Lenth said, noting Pierce's ability to touch a 10-foot basketball rim. She’s known for her hitting, but also helped her high school team win matches with her serving and keeps getting better with her floor defense.
“We do workouts with our liberos and defensive players and she’d come out and do all of those workouts, and she would work really hard,†Lenth said. “So last year she played some six-rotation, and sometimes she got pulled out. So far this year at a team camp she was all six rotations. She wants to go six rotations in college, so she’s really worked on her defensive game a lot.â€
Pierce was also considering USC, Stanford, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Florida, Kentucky, Louisville, Illinois and Michigan.
“She was No. 1 on everybody’s (recruiting) board,†said Bryon Larson, the director of KC Dynasty where Pierce plays club. “Every time coaches see her they comment on how much she’s grown since the previous time they saw her.â€
Larson also thinks highly of Pierce’s character and humility.
“We had a college camp where Nebraska was in and (Nebraska assistant coach Jaylen Reyes) was running a session and we had several coaches – Penn State, Illinois, USC,†Pierce said. “Skyler is the first one to arrive, and at a water break, she’s shagging balls out of eyesight of anyone else. So she’s the prototypical first one in, last out, and doing all the right things.â€
Next summer Nebraska may try to recruit one of Pierce’s club teammates. Right-side hitter Abigail Mullen is expected to be one of the top prospects in the 2025 class, and she was recently one of the youngest players to make the 12-player roster for the United States junior national team.