Your Prep Sports Area Volleyball Player of the Year: Versatile Fay Leads Liberty High to State Tournament in Final Season
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
NORTH LIBERTY – Rylee Fay can do just about anything on a volleyball court.
Given the way Fay started out playing the sport her diverse skill set is hardly a surprise.
As a young player Fay never held a single position for long. Instead she shuffled around learning every position on the court along the way.
“I started out being a libero, I’ve played middle, I played every position there was. My coaches put me where ever because they knew I could do the job,” Fay explained. “That helped me grow because I was always doing everything on the court. I knew every position and what every spot needed to do.”
By the time Fay reached junior high she had settled on setter as her position of focus but the skills she built playing every other spot never faded.
Over time those skills sharpened helping to turn Fay into one of the top all-around players in the state the past two seasons.
The final season for Fay, her only at Liberty High, was her finest.
Fay ranked in the top five on the team in assists, ace serves, digs, kills and blocks while directing Liberty High to a 34-3 record and the first state tournament appearance in program history.
For all of her accomplishments Fay has been named the 2019 Your Prep Sports volleyball player of the year.
“When she was coming here I thought we were going to run a 5-1 and I knew from experience that she had great skills all around whether it was running that 5-1 and being the quarterback or her other skills,” Liberty High coach Randy Dolson said. “We went to the 6-2 and we knew she could hit but she really hit at a pretty high level for us along with everything else she does well.”
The first skill Fay put to use after transferring to Liberty High was her leadership.
Fay attended off-season leadership training courses put on by Dolson in an attempt to become a solid looker room presence in her only season at a new school.
“We went through what leadership is and what leaders do and what the role of a leader is and I feel like that really helped me,” Fay said. “I felt like I needed to step up my game as a leader. There were so many freshmen and I wanted them all to look up to me and know what a good leader looks like. I just really wanted to push them to be their best.”
After spending two seasons as the setter in a 5-1 attack at West High Fay had no trouble fitting in with her teammates or settling into her all-around role in the Lightning’s 6-2 scheme.
The 5-foot-9 senior quickly solidified herself as the floor general on a Liberty High team that opened the season with 13 consecutive wins.
“Starting the last two years as a 5-1 setter she could have easily come in and see that we wanted to run a 6-2 and be kind of upset but she reacted wonderfully,” Dolson said. “She was open she just wanted to help the team any way that she could and without that she could have ruffled some feathers easily but she was open to helping the team any way she could and I think her teammates saw that.”
The addition of Fay added just another piece to a loaded Liberty High roster that returned three-year starters Hailey Hested and LeeAnn Potter and standout freshman Cassidy Hartmann and Shelby Kimm.
Hested, who spent the previous two seasons as the lone Liberty High setter and Fay immediately fell into a rhythm in the 6-2 offense implemented by Dolson.
Liberty High went 32-2 during the regular season surpassing the win total from the first two seasons in program history combined.
“For me the biggest challenge early on was just making sure everyone was comfortable with me and my spot on the team,” Fay said. “Everyone was awesome to me especially Hailey. She had been the starting setter and she was great to me so it was awesome honestly.”
Fay did it all for the Lightning this season.
She led Liberty High in both kills and ace serves, ranked fourth in digs and was fifth on the team with 90 kills while hitting a career-best .289.
“As a setter you know how you attack the different areas but I guess we were surprised at how well she could attack as a regular hitter,” Dolson said. “That was the biggest, I don’t want to say surprise, but what put the biggest smile our faces. She gave us some consistence offensively but blocking too. She was a pretty good blocker.”
Fay posted 90 kills on the season as part of one of the most balanced attacks in Class 5A.
She had 510 assists and her 68 ace serves ranked third in 5A.
“I love being on the court all the time and hitting is so much fun if you aren’t really a hitter,” Fay said. “Hailey gave me some really good balls that I could put down. The reaction of my teammates was always the best part of getting a kill.”
Fay showed her versatility in the postseason collecting a team-high in kills, aces and assists in three different playoff matches.
In three postseason matches Fay had 22 kills, 45 assists and seven ace serves.
A Missouri State signee, Fay finished her career with more than 260 kills, 175 aces, 1,500 assits 500 digs, 99 blocks and most importantly to her a state tournament appearance.
“It was truly a dream season,” Fay said. “To go to state your senior year it’s an amazing way to end it. Our only goal was to go to state I’m amazed. It was a really, really fun season.”
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