College Coaches Lining Up to “Hopp” on Alliance MB’s Bandwagon

ALLIANCE - At a recent summer camp, Jordan Hopp - a 6'3 junior middle from Alliance - raced around her setter to run a slide, elevated high above the net and absolutely crushed a ball down inside the 10-foot line. She looked over at the coaches, hoping they had seen - or heard - what she did. They had.

The coaches?

John Cook and Kayla Banwarth of Nebraska. After all, it was Nebraska's camp.

And the end of the camp, Cook pulled Hopp aside and asked asked her to return for the "Dream Team" camp, where all the Husker commits and other top players in the nation would be. So, she did, and she tore it up again at Devaney Center, this time against some of the best high school talent in the nation.

“I think I did pretty well," Hopp said of the experience. "I honestly didn’t think I would do well, but I went in and played and did totally fine, I think."

That's just been part of a whirlwind summer for Hopp that has taken her from something of a mystery to a player that has college coaches talking all around the country.

As of now, Hopp doesn't have any kind of offer from the Huskers, and Creighton has been poking around. Both of those schools, however, already have a handful of middles committed and likely don't have any scholarships to offer. Nebraska already has in-state commitments for middles in the 2020, 2021 and 2022 classes. 

Iowa State offered her after she blew up at the Cyclones' camp. High Point University in North Carolina, which took a set from Purdue in the NCAA Tournament a year ago and has former Creighton assistant Ryan Meek as its head coach, has been very aggressive in its pursuit of Hopp.

She also camped at Colorado State and is expecting word back within the next few days from the Rams as to their level of interest. Wyoming - where her high school teammate and good friend Emersen Cyza is committed - showed some interest but has fallen off and Nebraska-Kearney was the first to offer Hopp, although she said she's focused on Division I schools now. 

Hopp, also a standout basketball player and high jumper, has never played major club volleyball because there simply aren't many option around Alliance. But, she said, her recruiting really took off after she went to a camp at the University of Michigan last year and did pretty well.

When you talk to Alliance coach Jessica Kasier, who is starting her fourth year in the Alliance program and second as the head coach, she says Hopp has always had the natural ability, but always lacked the confidence and aggression that she sees in her now.

"Her court presence," Kaiser said when asked what the biggest change in Hopp has been. "There has been a total change in her confidence, presence, the way interacts with teammates and she's making herself an option all the time. Now, she's constantly in communication with her setter and she's always smiling. She has a whole different confidence and court presence."

"Her blocking has improved. She's jump serving really well. She’s just dominating. If we can get her and our setter to connect on her slide she will be unstoppable.”

Hopp agreed with Kaiser, and also said she has gotten stronger as well, which has allowed her to hit that magical 10-foot mark. 

"I used to barely be able to get just my forearms over the net," she said with a laugh. "My vertical has improved a lot since my freshman year."

That's pretty scary, when you consider she had 100 blocks in the 2017 high school season, which set a new school record. Her teammate Cyza set a new school record last year as well for kills in a season with more than 500. Hopp said having Cyza as a friend has helped her a lot through the recruiting process.

“Me and Emersen are really good friends. She's a really good player and person," she said. "It's nice to have someone to relate to and talk to. I love playing with her. It's nice to talk with somebody that knows what you’re going through.”

This weekend will really be the first time Hopp and Cyza get to showcase their abilities together on the court as Alliance takes part in the Nebraska-Kearney team camp. Because of busy summer camp schedules, the Bulldogs haven't been able to get everyone together until this weekend. Alliance was at the Creighton team camp earlier this month, but that was the weekend Hopp was at the Nebraska camp.

Once Hopp is done at the Nebraska-Kearney team camp, she said she will start to sit down with her family and take a look at what the best college option is for her. She wants to make the decision before the start of the school year, but she also wants to definitely wait and see what Colorado State says. 

“I’m going to wait that week out and see what CSU has to offer then maybe wait a couple more weeks," Hopp said. "I really think I want to get committed before the season.”