Athlete of the Week: Summit Shasta’s Kristen Huddleston

Kristen Huddleston has been selected as the Daily Journal Athlete of the Week because the senior is now chartering the Black Bears volleyballers into unchartered territory, as Summit Shasta opens play Tuesday in the program’s first-ever CIF State Girls’ Volleyball Championships tournament appearance.

“She’s hungry for this,” Summit Shasta head coach Gil Gilberstadt said. “She’s been kind of like: ‘We did CCS, we know how it is.’ This is her thing. We wanted this big show, and this is how we’re going to be.”

Well, maybe the Black Bears weren’t prepared for quite as big a show as they’re getting.

After finishing as the runner-up in the Central Coast Section Division V tournament — falling in Saturday’s championship match 25-16, 25-21, 25-22 to No. 1-seed Castilleja — Summit Shasta got a major shock Sunday when the CIF state brackets were announced.

The small school of under 500 students produced such outstanding results on the volleyball court this season, Summit Shasta ultimately qualified for the CIF Division II tournament as the No. 13 seed. It’s the same tournament with teams such as No. 12 Valley Christian of the West Catholic Athletic League and No. 3 Burlingame of the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division.

“That was a shock because our school isn’t even eligible for [CCS Division IV],” Huddleston said. “And then going and seeing all these big schools that have like thousands of girls to choose from for their team, and then playing against them; obviously we don’t have as many girls to choose from, but our team is pretty good, considering our school size.”

The Black Bears have indeed been pretty good this season. Posting a 29-4 overall record, Summit Shasta earned some notable power points outside the small pond of Private School Athletic League play, in which the team won the league’s Bay Division championship with a perfect 9-0 mark.

What put Summit Shasta on the map in the eyes of the CIF committee was two standout tournament performances, earning the consolation championships at both Notre Dame-Belmont’s Tiger Cup and at the Stockton Classic. Wins over eventual CCS runners-up Mercy-Burlingame and Monta Vista-Cupertino also helped the cause.

Not that the Black Bears saw the Division II bracket coming.

“My eyes kind of popped out when it said ‘DII,’” Gilberstadt said.

Still, the Black Bears are going to do what they do. And much of that depends on the play of Huddleston.

Summit Shasta boasts a well-rounded team. It’s tough to win 29 matches otherwise. The defense and serving of senior libero Mellanie Hu have been dazzling. Senior middle blockers Alana Tutasi and Sophia Lim have totaled 54 and 51 blocks, respectively, and Lim ranks second on the team in offense with 2.1 kills per set.

Huddleston, though, has been on another level. The versatile left-handed attacker is averaging a team-best 3.2 kills per set while ranking second in digs and fourth in service aces. All this and leadership too, Huddleston has been a varsity starter since she arrived at Summit Shasta as a freshman.

“She brings a lot of positive energy,” Tutasi said. “She definitely knows how to run the court and when it’s crunch time she knows how to get it done.”

Gilberstadt took over the Summit Shasta volleyball program two years ago when Huddleston was a sophomore. But he already knew who she was from the Red Rock Volleyball Club.

“I saw her just one day in one tournament of a club season … and I’m like: ‘Hey, this lefty is really good,’” Gilberstadt said.

Indeed. And she largely navigated Summit Shasta through the CCS Division V tournament. Her numbers weren’t astounding. In fact, the only double-digit kill performance she turned in was last Tuesday’s opener, a four-set win over Stevenson. Huddleston tabbed 12 kills, five digs and four aces.

“She took it, she held it, and she won that game, pretty much,” Gilberstadt said.

Then her steadying presence in the Black Bears’ semifinal victory over Notre Dame-Salinas played huge. Summit Shasta had to battle into extra-points twice in the 27-25, 26-24, 25-21 victory. And while Huddleston totaled eight kills and eight digs, it was that unquantifiable leadership factor that won the day.

Not only was the semifinal match likely Summit Shasta’s final home match of the season. It landed on the same day as the school’s college application day, which meant Huddleston and the rest of her senior teammates, after a full day at school, spent three hours before the match staring at computer screens as part of the college app process. The start time of the CCS semi was even pushed back 30 minutes because of this.

“It was long night,” Huddleston said. “And I feel like I did all right, but it definitely was not my best game that I played.”

But this is the best team Summit Shasta has ever fielded — hence the primetime treatment after knocking out ND-Salinas. The Black Bears stepped into the Palo Alto High School Gymnasium for Saturday’s Division V championship in awe. The huge confines, with stadium seating on either side of the impressive sunken court, are not what they’re used to. At Summit Shasta’s home gym, there are just three rows of bench seating on one side of the court.

Huddleston went for just eight kills in the match. But a hiccup at the setter position forced Gilberstadt to turn to an unproven option, freshman Cecilia Chow, who entered to play in just the second varsity match of her career.

“She really stepped up because she went into it thinking: ‘Oh, I’m just here to cheer the team on,’” Huddleston said of Summit Shasta’s next-generation setter. “But then she ended up going in and making a huge difference.”

Huddleston knows what it means to make a huge difference. She’s been doing it her entire varsity career for Summit Shasta.