Preseason All-Thumb Player of the Year: Rylee Zimmer
She’s been the talk of the sport since her debut three seasons ago. Total domination, beast, stud, game-changer, and your team’s worst nightmare. These are what come to mind when some one brings up the name Rylee Zimmer. Since her…
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Continue ReadingShe’s been the talk of the sport since her debut three seasons ago. Total domination, beast, stud, game-changer, and your team’s worst nightmare. These are what come to mind when some one brings up the name Rylee Zimmer. Since her introduction, her freshman year, a short three seasons ago, she’s been a trailblazer in the thumb area volleyball scene. She’s the Preseason All-Thumb Player of the Year.
Rylee Zimmer is known in the area for her prowess at the net as well as her versatility. Over the course of her prep career, Zimmer has done about everything. She can hit middle, she can hit outside, she can pass, she can set, she can block, she has done it all. She has stats in every statistical category there is. Entering her senior campaign, Rylee looks to more than capitalize on all her prep success. Here’s a recap of her career thus far.
Freshman Year, 2015-16, MB
Photo by Dave Wohl PhotographyThis would be the debut for Zimmer. The Lady Pats were coming off of a MHSAA Final Four run led by the now University of Tennessee middle blocker, Erica Treiber. With the graduation of Treiber, in-came one of the most dynamic freshman since Treiber herself in Rylee Zimmer. This season would see the young up-and-comer follow behind the footsteps of teammates Nikki Bauer and Olivia Williamson. The season would see Zimmer help the Patriots to a 33-12-3 record, en route to a conference and district championship and regional final appearance. In contribution, she put down 220 kills on a .231 clip and 95 blocks.
Sophomore Year, 2016-2017, 6-Rotation MB
Photo by Huron Daily TribuneWith a year of experience under her belt, the now sophomore would start to show what she was capable of. In one of the most competitive volleyball conferences in the area. Zimmer and friends would see a set beck, losing the conference title for the first time since 2009 behind Reese and Cass City. This would only fuel the USA fire, as Zimmer would lead the charge and take her team to another district title and Regional Semi-Finals. Rylee was used for every aspect of the game, never sitting out, she led the team in kills and blocks while coming in second for digs. In their post season run alone, she would put down 76 kills within four games, 30 of them coming from the 5-set district title match against Cass City. On the season, she put down 476 kills on a .211 hitting percentage, stuffed 135 attacks while popping up 347 digs. After her sophomore campaign, Rylee Zimmer was awarded 1st team All-GTW and 3rd team All-Class C, leading the patriots to a 38-8-4 record.
Zimmer: “The biggest rivals to me have changed over the years. Freshman year was Bad Axe, they gave our team a lot of trouble. Sophomore year was Reese, they ended up beating us out for conference. Junior year was Reese and Cass City, they both had really good hitters and made it difficult to win against them. Going into senior year, I think the rival would be Reese again, Madi Thompson is a really good player!”
Junior Year, 2017-2018, MB/S
Photo by Huron Daily TribuneFor most teams, every season sees the loss of players to graduation and the induction of new players to fill in the positions. After graduating setter, Sara Reinhardt, who else to step up and take setting duties than Rylee Zimmer? In her junior season, Rylee saw herself apart of Teresa Rose‘s two-setter system with Nichole Schember. While in the back-row, Zimmer paced the offense while dominating the net when up front. This season saw Zimmer bring her team to new heights as this was looking to be an off-season for the patriots. After dropping a game to a powerful Cass City team in the first half of conference play. The conference championship was looking to be all the Red Hawks until Zimmer had a say. Starting with their second match-up with the hawks that turned into a victory. The Lady Pats went on a winning streak behind the prowess of Zimmer. Rylee would lead the USA squad to not only another Greater Thumb West championship, but then lead them all the way to the MHSAA Quarter-Finals match. En route to this appearance, Zimmer notched 808 kills, breaking the school record for most kills in a single season. This record topping University of Tennessee All-American middle blocker, Erica Treiber‘s old record of 754. Impressive enough, in her junior season, Rylee had 49% of the total team kills. Obviously with stats as impressive as these were. She was awarded another 1st team All-GTW honor and 2nd team All-Class C.
Zimmer: “My expectation going into my senior season with the team, is to win and go far into the post-season, even further than we did last year.”
Senior Year, 2018-2019, 6-Rotation MB
Photo by Huron Daily TribuneNow, breezing through her senior campaign, the Saginaw Valley State verbal commit shows no signs of slowing down. The starlet has led the Pats to a 12-2-3 season so far. Undefeated in conference play. The only losses coming both from a good Grand Blanc team at the 6-Team Pioneer Kick-Off tournament. She has shown no mercy on any of these teams though, already turning in three 20+ kill performances. She has notched 224 kills, hitting .319, so far this season on top of 151 dig and 41 blocks. Be aware of this star as the season continues to roll on and as she leads the patriots into another big post season run.
Zimmer: “I feel really prepared going to play in college. From all the teammates I’ve played with over the years and the teams in the conference, they’ve all helped me grow as a player. I am ready to play on the next level.”