Destined for Division I

PALMER — Before her days at Colony High School, senior volleyball standout Hannah Curtis was a self-described basketball girl.

“Actually I hated volleyball until like eighth grade probably,” Curtis said on Monday.

But it was only a matter of time before that hate turned to love and Curtis ditched the sport with the hoop in favor of the one with the net.

And looking back on that — it’s probably a good thing.

On Monday, the Colony High School senior signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Rutgers University and play volleyball for the Division I Scarlet Knights.

Wearing her scarlet Rutgers hooded sweatshirt, Curtis said it definitely took determination to earn an opportunity to play Division I volleyball, a feat that is still fairly rare in Alaska.

“It was a tough process,” Curtis said. “I got turned down by a lot of schools just because they couldn’t see me play in person.”

But with the encouragement of friends, family and coaches, Curtis persistently powered down the path toward a Division I program.

“Coaches were very encouraging that I could play at that level,” Curtis said.

That motivation dates back to her time at Colony Middle School where one of her teachers, Lance Petrie, urged her to participate in the sport.

“Mr. Petrie made me try it for seventh and eighth grade,” Curtis said of Petrie, who is also a varsity assistant volleyball coach at Colony High. “But I was a basketball girl.”

Even though Curtis played basketball through her sophomore year, she gradually moved toward volleyball.

“It probably wasn’t until my freshman or sophomore year that it started to be my focus,” Curtis said.

And after her sophomore season, Curtis permanently left basketball to focus on volleyball.

Curtis, who also competes in the Midnight Sun Volleyball Club, emerged as an upperclassman.

She earned first-team All-Northern Lights Conference as both a junior and a senior, and was named the NLC Northern Division MVP after her senior campaign.

Curtis also helped lead the Knights to a conference title in 2006 and a second-place finish in the 2007 state tournament.

Colony head coach Amy Carter has known Curtis — a 6-foot middle blocker with a 3.9 grade point average — watched that progression as she coached Curtis for two seasons on the junior varsity squad and another two years in the varsity program.

“She has the physical ability, but she also works hard,” Carter said. “She’s one that comes in and works hard every day.”

Dan Knecht, Curtis’ Midnight Sun club coach for the last two seasons, believes the CHS senior has the ability to make an impact at the Division I level.

“She has great potential,” Knecht said.

Curtis said she expects to continue to play middle hitter at the next level. At 6-0 Curtis was dominant in Alaska, but realizes that will most likely change at the highest level college volleyball has to offer.

“I’m tall for Alaska, but I’m going to be short for DI,” Curtis said. “I’m going to have to really improve my vertical.”

Knecht said Curtis is about average size for a Division I middle hitter, but she also has the ability to play outside if needed.

“It’s all about movement more than anything else,” Knecht said. “Hannah has great potential to hit outside.”

After considering a handful of Division I programs, Curtis narrowed her choices to Rutgers and Providence College in Road Island.

Curtis said she wanted to attend a school with a strong academic tradition on the east coast and live close to a major city. Rutgers, in New Brunswick, N.J., satisfied all those needs.

“I fell in love with the campus,” Curtis, who plans to study political science, said. “And it’s only 45 minutes from New York City.”

Knecht said Rutgers had an early interest in Curtis, but a coaching staff change within the Scarlet Knight program slowed the process.

Jeff Werneke, a former Rutgers assistant, was named the head coach in January.

“He was interested in Hannah when he was at Fairfield,” Knecht said of Werneke, who left his head coaching position at Fairfield University to take the helm of Rutgers volleyball. “I think it’s great. We’ve been working pretty hard this year to get her signed.”

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.