Gatorade’s Player of Year for a second time around. Gulp!

By Kody Acevedo

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Kris Cartwright for Wrangler News

Brooke Nuneviller seems to be able to do it all. The 5-foot-11 senior volleyball player at Corona del Sol High School recently wrapped up her final season as a member of the Aztecs team and learned last week that her hard work and dedication didn’t go unnoticed.

The Gatorade Company announced Nuneviller as its 2017-18 Gatorade Arizona Volleyball Player of the Year for the second consecutive time.

“Honestly, I did not expect it at all,” Nuneviller said. “I woke up (the
morning of the announcement) to texts saying ‘congratulations’ and I was completely in shock.”

The award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field.

Nuneviller is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Volleyball Player of the Year award to be announced later this month.

Nuneviller tallied 593 kills and 493 digs during the Aztecs 41-3 season, which included a trip to the Conference 6A state championship match. She was also a libero for the 2017 USA Volleyball Girls’ Youth National Team which finished eighth at the World Championships.

She finished her high school volleyball career with 1,308 kills and 1,475 digs, while maintaining a weighted 4.50 GPA in the classroom.

Nuneviller credits a dream to attend Stanford as motivation to be academically driven.

“I’ve grown up trying to get my grades up and be academic,” Nuneviller said.

But a trip to the University of Oregon led her down a different path. She signed a National Letter of Intent to play volleyball on scholarship for the Ducks this fall.

“I loved the girls in my class,” Nuneviller said. “But one of the biggest things is the
head coach, Matt Ulmer.”

Oregon named Ulmer head coach in April 2017 after four seasons on the Oregon staff. In his first season as Oregon’s head coach, Ulmer guided the Ducks to an 18-12 overall
record, 10-10 in Pac-12 play, and the program’s seventh straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

During her visit with Ulmer, Nuneviller knew there was an instant connection.

“Something clicked and I just really loved it there,” she said. “I think we will have a great coach-player bond.”

As part of the award, Nuneviller will be able to select a national or local youth sports organization to receive a grant as part of the Gatorade Play It Forward program. Every
Gatorade Player of the Year state winner receives a $1,000 grant to donate.

Last season, she donated the grant to the Kroc Corps Community Center in Phoenix.
“But I still haven’t decided this year,” Nuneviller said.

The grant donation is one of many ways she helps give back to the community. Nuneviller has volunteered locally on behalf of Feed My Starving Children and has donated her time with the Special Olympics and as a youth volleyball coach.

It’s all part of the gratitude she has for the Corona community that believed in her and gave her so much encouragement in order to be the best player and student she
could possibly be.

“Corona Athletics has been extremely supportive throughout my four years in high
school,” Nuneviller said. “My coach, Ben Maxfield, has always supported me and he’s done everything he can to make me the most successful player possible.”

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