COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 17, 2018) – Brooke Nuneviller’s (Chandler, Arizona) resume in the sport of volleyball is about as diverse as it can be for someone heading into their freshman season at the University of Oregon.
Nuneviller, in her seventh season in the USA Volleyball High Performance pipeline, will serve as the libero on the U.S. Women’s Junior National Team competing in the zonal NORCECA Women’s U20 Continental Championship this week in Mexico. She has already represented Team USA twice on international soil as part of the U.S. Girl’s Youth National Team. In 2016, Nuneviller led Team USA to silver at the NORCECA Girls’ U18 Continental Championship followed by an eighth-place finish at the 2017 FIVB Girls’ U18 World Championship. Now she and her WJNT teammates will work to qualify for the 2019 FIVB Women’s U20 World Championship.
Nuneviller’s resume has exhibited diversity within the sport. While playing outside hitter for her club team Aspire, she has been recognized with all-tournament honors in the USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championships Open Division in 2016 and 2017. Nuneviller has also won Arizona’s Gatorade High School Player of the Year twice for indoor, along with AVCA High School All-America First-Team.
Yet, indoor volleyball was only part of Nuneviller’s game at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, Arizona. Playing sand volleyball, Nuneviller lost only once in two years and won the Arizona Division I pairs beach volleyball championship this season.
Nuneviller was named the 2018 Arizona Republic/azcentral Sports Awards Girls’ Athlete of the Year for her diversity playing both indoor and sand volleyball at such high levels.
Nuneviller has expanded her volleyball IQ by going back and forth from the sand to the indoor court, as well as transitioning from outside hitter in club and school to libero within USA Volleyball High Performance. Earlier this year she started coaching one of her club team’s younger squads. Nuneviller leaves open the option of a coaching career after her playing days are over, which would follow in the footsteps of her mother, Beth. The elder Nuneviller has coached at the University of Arkansas, Phoenix College and with Aspire Volleyball Club.
As Brooke gets ready for the NORCECA Women’s U20 Championship to start on Monday at Puerto Rico, learn more about her in the Q&A below.
USA Volleyball: Describe your USA Volleyball High Performance experience and coming up through the pipeline.
Nuneviller: “In my very first year of High Performance, I made the (Future Select) A2 camp. Ever since then, I have been on A1. I have been switching back-and-forth between outside hitter and libero. After a while I decided to stick with playing libero because of the success that I have had. It has been super humbling. It is incredible to play with the best players around the country.”
USA Volleyball: How do you transition going back and forth as a pin hitter with your club and playing libero in High Performance?
Nuneviller: “I like hitting because you can do multiple things. But, obviously I like passing because that is one of the things you can do as an outside hitter, too. As an outside, you get to hit and not just pass. I like to do both. It is easy to transition from outside to libero because you are already passing and playing defense. So that is not too difficult. It is the switching from libero back to outside and getting your vertical back.”
USA Volleyball: Kelsey Robinson is making a similar transition from outside hitter to libero during the FIVB Volleyball Nations League. Have you been watching her play during her transition to libero?
Nuneviller: “We watched (online) the team play Korea. It is weird seeing her in a different colored jersey because I have always seen her on a pin. She is definitely, obviously, a role model being on the National Team. I got to watch her make movements, transitions from taking the seam rather than deciding if you need to hit after. That is something I had to do as an outside and now as a libero.”
USA Volleyball: What is the plan going into your freshman year at University of Oregon? Will you continue being a libero or play as an outside?
Nuneviller: “I think for my freshman and sophomore year, I am not sure what I will do. Right now, the plan is for me to hit. But it is not set in stone.”
USA Volleyball: You have been part of the HP pipeline at the Youth National Team level and moving up to the Women’s Junior National Team. What do you see as some of the strengths for this team heading into NORCECA Women’s U20 Championship?
Nuneviller: “I think we took a lot of the feedback that we were given last summer. We all got so much better this last club season. I think we are just clicking better, connecting better, our form looks great. I just think we are at a different level than we were last year.”
USA Volleyball: How does it feel traveling the world and representing the USA?
Nuneviller: “It is incredible. Especially when you get off the plane, everyone sees you in a USA jacket or sweats. It is super cool to see people from different countries experience different cultures, and obviously representing your country at the same time.”
USA Volleyball: As for your future, what do you want to do with volleyball in your life?
Nuneviller: “I also play beach volleyball. I love both indoor and beach volleyball. Wherever my path goes, I will go there.”
USA Volleyball: How do you transition from going from the beach game to the indoor game?
Nuneviller: “There are a couple different techniques that you use for hitting and reading the court. I think beach has helped me grow so much as an indoor player and being able to read the court, especially being behind the block with two people in beach. There are some timing differences because you move slower in the sand. I think it is has helped me so much in reading the game and just competing.”
USA Volleyball: What do you want to do after volleyball, a career that may include the Olympics?
Nuneviller: “I actually coached my first club team this year, Aspire 13-2. That was super fun. I could definitely see myself coaching in the future because I love the game and I want to be around it as long as possible. After my volleyball is over, I think I may go into accounting as that is my college major. So we will see where that will take me. Or I will become a coach and try to coach collegiately.”