Wolverines Get Five Commitments During Early Signing
11/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan head volleyball coach Mark Rosen announced today (Wednesday, Nov. 19) that the Wolverines program signed five student-athletes to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period (Nov. 12-19). Katie Bruzdzinski (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North HS), Sarah Draves (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti HS), Mara Martin (Monroe, Mich./St. Mary Catholic Central HS), Lyndsay Miller (Ida, Mich./Ida HS) and Stesha Selsky (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Marymount HS) have committed to attend the University and compete in volleyball next fall.
"I think this is our number one recruiting class since we've been here," said Rosen, who is in his fifth season as the program's leader. "I think as an overall class, it really fits our needs. We have athleticism, size and great volleyball experience. It's really kind of the whole package for a recruiting class. We're very excited about all five players. This is obviously the year we needed a good class because we graduate some very key players that have been with the program for a long time. I think they will make a good impact, and we'll find out once they get here."
Bruzdzinski is a 6-0 outside hitter who is currently competing for the Sports Performance Volleyball Club. A four-time AAU All-American (2000, '01, '02, '03), Bruzdzinski helped Sports Performance to the Junior Olympic 18 & Under Open national championship in 2003 and was named to the all-tournament team at the 18 & Under Open. Bruzdzinski has also competed for the USA Volleyball Youth National Team (2001, '02, '03) and led the squad to a fourth-place finish in the Under-18 World Championship in Poland in 2003 as well as the Norceca Championship in 2002. Also a decorated student-athlete for Naperville North High School, Bruzdzinski is an all-state selection (2002) by the Champaign News-Gazette and was named to the all-state team by the Chicago Tribune in 2002. In addition Bruzdzinski was honored as a two-time all-area first team selection (2002, '03) as well as 2003 Player of the Year by the Chicago Sun-Times. A four-time DuPage Valley all-conference selection (2000, '01, '02, '03), Bruzdzinski is also a four-time (2000, '01, '02, '03) member of the Naperville Sun All-City first team and the Daily Herald All-Area first team, and was named Player of the Year by the Daily Herald this season.
Draves, a 6-4 middle blocker, is a three-time all-conference player (2001, '02, '03) for Ypsilanti High School and has earned all-region honors twice (2002, '03). Draves was a member of the USA Volleyball Junior National A-2 Team and earned Most Improved honors at USAV's A-2 training camp. Draves is also talented in the classroom, earning the Presidential Academic Award and sporting a 4.0 grade-point average to rank at the top of her class. In addition, she has been a Y-Award winner at Ypsilanti High every year. Draves has competed for the Go Blue Volleyball Club and will play with the Toledo Volleyball Club with fellow recruit Lyndsay Miller prior to joining the Wolverines in the fall.
Martin is a 6-1 setter who competed for the Blue Water Volleyball Club and will join up with the Go Blue Volleyball Club before arriving on campus in the fall. Martin led St. Mary Catholic Central to the state championship in 2003 and earned all-state honors last season as a junior. A three-time team Most Valuable Player (2001, '02, and '03), Martin is also an all-state student-athlete in basketball and competes on the track and field team that won the 2003 state championship.
Miller, a 6-2 middle blocker, is a member of the Toledo Volleyball Club and will play with fellow newcomer Sarah Draves before coming to U-M in the fall. A member of the 2003 USA Volleyball Youth National Team, Miller earned first-team all-league honors in 2002 and '03 as well as all-region and honorable mention all-state accolades last year. As a basketball player Miller has received all-county, all-region and honorable mention all-state honors.
Selsky is a 5-10 setter/libero who is playing for the Manhattan Hot Shots Volleyball Club, as well as Marymount High School, where she has won three state titles (2000, '01 and '02) and currently has MHS ranked second nationally. Selsky has earned three bronze medals as a member of the USA Volleyball Junior National Team (1998, 2001, '02) and was named to the all-state team twice (2001, '02) as well as earning Most Valuable Player honors in the 2002 All-State Match. A talented beach volleyball player, Selsky has a AAA beach rating, the highest rating among beach spikers.
The Wolverines will graduate three seniors following the 2003 campaign -- Erin Moore (Tiffin, Ohio/Columbian HS), Nicole Poquette (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven HS) and Chantel Reedus (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South HS).
Q U O T E S
Head Coach Mark Rosen
On Katie Bruzdzinski ... "Katie is probably the most experienced player we've been able to recruit to the University of Michigan. She's played on the youth national team three years in a row. She played in the youth world championships this year. She's really had a tremendous amount of experience. Her team won the USAV National Championship at the highest division this year. She's just a player with great credentials. She brings in great ball control. She is a player who is a real steady and consistent. I don't think she is a physically dominating player, but she will play well, and I think she will make the people around her play better. She is a great competitor."
On Sarah Draves ... "It's been great to start making stronger and stronger in-roads into the state of Michigan. We started out with Erin Cobler being our first big recruit in the state of Michigan. I think Sarah is our next one. Sarah has been somebody who was highly recruited as a young player from obviously a very close locale. It is good to have her at the University of Michigan, not only as an athlete but as a student. She is a great academic fit for the University of Michigan. She brings great size and good athleticism, and I think she is really hungry to play at the next level, and we're excited about her coming in. She's been around so much as a ball-shagger, then as a fan, coming to all of our clinics. She's friends with a lot of our players, and it will be nice to have her as part of our team."
On Mara Martin ... "Mara is another in-state player that we're really excited about. She is someone who has a tremendous amount of potential. I think she has had limited exposure to the game at a very high level, and so she's got a lot of work to do to develop and get to that level that is going to help her be successful in the Big Ten as a setter. But, she is an extremely good athlete, she has great size, is very physical and I think a great competitor. She is somebody who has great intangibles from a competitive standpoint, but now we have to catch her game up to the personality characteristics. If she does that and works hard, I think she is going to be a great setter."
On Lindsay Miller ... "Lindsay is another in-state player who we are really excited about having in the program. She is somebody who has really come on in the last year or so. She is a great person, fun-loving, really outgoing and easy to get along with. But, she is also a great competitor, someone who really competes like crazy. She is a tremendous basketball player as well as volleyball player. She was actually smart in the sense that she went down to Ohio to play club volleyball and to play at a higher level nationally because of the backward seasons with Michigan. She really got herself out of that paradox a little bit and got into USA Volleyball for a club out of Toledo that is one of the top clubs in the country, and she has great experience from that. She played on the youth national team this year with Katie (Brudzdzinski) and is somebody who I think has an upside that's tremendous. She is very athletic and has great size, and I think she will really develop into a great college-level player."
On Stesha Selsky ... "Stesha is somebody who really can be the glue that holds everything together. She is somebody who I think makes this class better than it was. She can add an ingredient that will help everything come together. She is a tremendous ball control player, she's got great volleyball skills and I think she is probably one of the best volleyball players just in general that I have ever recruited. She can set, she can hit, she can play great defense. She's a great passer. I kind of call her 'old-school' a little bit. She reminds me a little bit of Alija Pittinger (1997-2000) in the fact that she has the complete game. There are so few players nowadays that have that because of the specialization of our sport. People specialize in one skill or another. She is somebody who plays the whole game."
On Stesha Selsky's volleyball background ... "Her mom (LouAnn Selsky) was a legend, I would say, in the early development of the game in this country. In the 70s, she was big-time player and coach in our country. Stesha just grew up playing the game because she was around her mom. She's been an AAA-rated beach player, which is the highest rating there is, as a very young player. Most people don't get that till they are 25-30. She got that at probably 15 or 16. She has great all-around skills, and I think she will help us with ball control and passing. She can also help us as a setter and she has great skills there. She is just someone that in the gym will make others play better because of her great volleyball skills."
Contact: Paul Thomas (734) 763-4423
