Mother McAuley’s Peyton Heatherly was really something to see at the ASICS Challenge.
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The 5-foot-10 freshman setter ran the Mighty Macs’ offense with the confidence and coolness of a senior.
In Saturday’s 25-20, 25-18 win over Notre Dame of Kentucky in the championship match, she had 22 assists. She also won the final joust at the net against a taller Pandas hitter.
That’s right. A freshman provided the final point in one of the most prestigious high school tournaments in the nation.
What a moment.
“Oh, it was super cool,” Heatherly said, laughing. “I don’t know … Everyone was just hyping me up and slapping my back. It was just a super cool opportunity.”
Where did she come from? How did she become a freshman starting setter for a defending state champion?
That’s a super cool story.
McAuley coach Jen DeJarld was up front about the state of her team before the season.
The Mighty Macs had experienced hitters aplenty. But who was going to get them the ball?
“The setting position is still an open spot,” DeJarld wrote. “We are actively competing for that spot(s) and have several strong setters vying for the role.”
Way down at the bottom of the newcomers to watch for? She listed Heatherly.
It hasn’t taken long for her to rise to the top.
Heatherly was handed the reins a few weeks ago during McAuley’s annual trip to Louisville. Until then, she was one of the setters in a 6-2 offense.
She didn’t hesitate to say that her heart beat a little faster when DeJarld gave her the word.
“Coach just told me before the Sacred Heart match, ‘I need you to be ready — I know you can do it,'” Heatherly said. “It was such a great opportunity to play with the best.”
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DeJarld has some of the best coaching instincts I’ve ever seen, especially when it comes to younger players. She really showed some in Louisville.
“We just thought that was a good time to kind of throw her into the lion’s den with a 5-1,” DeJarld said. “We were hoping that from the Louisville Tournament to the ASICS Challenge we would see some growth.
“Peyton has had to do some huge decision-making. And she has handled it so well and with so much poise. She has made every adjustment we’ve asked her to make, and she’s made them pretty quick.”
Heatherly joins Gigi Navarrete and Ellie White as the third freshman to start for DeJarld during her head coaching career. And like them, Heatherly is stepping up big time.
She showed some true grit in an ASICS quarterfinal match against Marist. Only nine days earlier, she looked a little overwhelmed in a three-game loss to the RedHawks. But Saturday, she was nails, recording 32 assists as the Mighty Macs beat Marist 25-27, 25-22, 25-14.
To date, Heatherly has 419 assists, 124 digs, 16 blocks and 20 aces. Senior middle hitter Ellery Rees has a good word to describe it.
“Amazing,” Rees said. “We’d heard a lot about her, and she had been working with us during summer workouts. Once we knew that she was going to be our setter, we took her in as part of our family and taught her all of our ways.
“It’s not easy to come into a team of all upperclassmen and be the freshman setter. But Peyton has a really strong work ethic, and she has fit in like a puzzle piece with our team.”
Heatherly has come a very long way from a pretty long distance. She actually lives in Western Springs.
“I was deciding between Montini, Nazareth, Lyons, and McAuley,” Heatherly said. “When I would go to all the McAuley matches, everyone was so welcoming and so nice. It really made me choose McAuley.
“There is such a family environment here. I’m just so excited to have four years to do this.”