Waverly’s Evans Commits to Colorado State
They say that the early bird gets the worm, well, for Colorado State, being the first program to show interest in Waverly 5’9 junior setter Annika Evans paid off for the Rams. Evans committed to the Rams late last month,…
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Continue ReadingThey say that the early bird gets the worm, well, for Colorado State, being the first program to show interest in Waverly 5’9 junior setter Annika Evans paid off for the Rams.
Evans committed to the Rams late last month, and the All-Stater from Waverly said her interest in Colorado State started when she got her first piece of recruiting mail from the Rams. While other program later started recruiting her, nobody was ever able to top the impression Colorado State left on her.
“I went to their camp this last summer and fell in love with campus, the culture, everything about the program,” Evans, who has a cousin that played softball at Colorado State, said. “I didn’t know for sure that’s where I wanted to go until this summer when I saw the campus when I was there this past summer. That was the first time I was on campus. It was always one of my top choices even before I had gone out there.
“Then I had some other schools talk to me and I would have phone conversations with them and nothing really topped the relations I built with the coaches there. Everything seemed to fit better at Colorado State.”
Evans has been a mainstay in the Waverly lineup since her freshman year. In her career so far, Evans has 2,322 assists, 70 ace serves, 841 digs, 203 kills and 84 blocks. In helping lead the Vikings to the Class B state semifinals this past fall, Evans had 1,032 assists (10.1 per set), with 81 kills and 319 digs.
Evans, who has two older brothers that played football at Nebraska, said she made up her mind as she entered high school that she was going to do everything within her control to pursue her dream of being a Division I athlete, and also got some good advice from another former Husker – All-American setter Lauren Cook – along the way as well.
“Going into high school I figured I had the choice to either lay back and see what happened or really work for my goals and put extra time in the gym and extra time into everything – the weight room, my academics,” Evans said. “That freshman club season, I had coaches looking at me and talking to me and that’s when it set in that this was going to be my reality and it’s not so much a dream anymore but it’s my future.
“I started out having lessons with Lauren Cook when I was about 10 and she was a really good role model for me and she really pushed me. She told me that if this is what I really wanted to do, I was going to have to sacrifice social-wise, maybe some sleep and a lot of things people aren’t willing to do. Like, maybe I can’t go to a school dance because I have a tournament or I can’t go to a concert because I’m putting in work at practice, I’m putting in extra time before and after practice.”
Two former Nebraska high school standouts currently play at Colorado State – Olivia Nicholson from North Platte and Amanda Young from Gretna. The Rams went 23-8 this season, falling in five sets to Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.