Mesaiya Bettis had no interest in playing volleyball back in fifth grade when her mom first signed her up against her wishes.

“So I was very upset,” she said with a laugh.

She eventually came around to the sport.

It didn’t take long to realize she was meant to play it.

Burnsville coach Josh Wastvedt remembers attending an open gym more than five years ago. Players were doing a hitting drill when this girl came up for her turn. She bounced the ball on the 10-foot line.

“And my eyes opened a little wider like, ‘OK, that was really nice,’ ” Wastvedt recalled. “And she came around again and it was even harder.”

At one point, Wastvedt asked the girl for her name: “Mesaiya.” Later on in the session, he had to ask for the age of this athlete who was jumping out of the gym.

“She said 13, and I started laughing,” he recalled. “And she goes, ‘Why does everybody laugh at that?’ ”

Because of the absurdity of someone being so good at such an age.

“I said, ‘If you stay here, you are going to do big things for us. You are going to be a star one day,’” Wastvedt recalled

How prophetic.

But even Wastvedt couldn’t have predicted the degree of stardom Bettis would achieve.

The senior outside hitter finished her high school career at Burnsville with 115 blocks, 721 digs, 93 aces and 1,611 kills. The latter is a new school record, shattering the mark previously held by none other than Tori Dixon.

Bettis is the 2024 East Metro Player of the Year.

And while the numbers are gaudy, what Wastvedt finds most impressive is that the Iowa State commit produced them all while competing for a rebuilding program.

“Part of that is you probably lose a lot more (matches) and you don’t get as many point opportunities and set opportunities. She still produced these numbers while doing that. I think that’s something that is really phenomenal to think about,” Wastvedt said. “She did this while not having as much opportunity as somebody who would go to a championship program.”

And she received the bulk of opponents’ attention. Never did Bettis mind. She said the added pressure built excitement. She loved that the Blaze were underdogs, and noted all the attention placed on her gave her teammates opportunities to shine and, at times, flipped the game.

Changing club teams to join Northern Lights Junior Volleyball Club early in her high school career gave Bettis the opportunity to compete alongside and against the best talent in the nation. It was that move that showed Bettis the types of opportunities available to her in the sport.

Playing for the Blaze demonstrated her ability to lead a team through success and failure. In 2022, Bettis was the best player on Burnsville’s state tournament team. It was the then-sophomore who delivered the game-winning kill in the section final.

This year, Bettis was often stationed alongside three or four young, inexperienced players, putting the senior in more of a teaching role for the 12-win Blaze, who lost in the section tournament semifinals.

She handled both with grace.

“I just really care for others and what I can do for them. I feel like I’ve gotten to the point where, maturity-wise, I know what I can do for myself, so it’s not something where I need to focus on myself and be on my own island,” she said. “(It’s about) what I can do for my teammates. Anything I can do just supporting them, be there for them.”

And often, yeah, her teammates needed someone to put the ball away. Very few are better at that than Bettis. That ability shined especially bright on certain nights throughout the season. Like when Bettis tallied 42 kills in a four-set victory over state tournament-bound Apple Valley last month.

“That’s unheard of,” Wastvedt said. “People don’t do that.”

Most don’t, anyway. But most people aren’t Mesaiya Bettis. Wastvedt said Bettis exceeded all the high expectations he had for the hitter from her first day on varsity as an eighth grader. He said players of that caliber can act in one of three ways — they can be a hot head, they can act as though they’re “God’s gift to everything” … or they can be like Bettis.

“Literally one of the most humble human beings and best teammates that you will ever get to coach,” he said. “She is such a natural-born leader. And she’s not mean about it. She does everything with positive intention. She has a way with her words that just says, ‘Alright, get on my back, but also, I’d rather you stand right next to me, because we’re going to do this together.’ And that’s how she does things.”

FINALISTS

Ava Ball, senior outside hitter, Nova Classical: South Dakota commit is state’s kill leader for the second-straight season. Went north of 2,000 kills for her career.

Rayna Christianson, junior setter, Lakeville North: Creighton commit tallied 44 aces and 853 assists this season for the Panthers.

Silvie Graetzer, senior middle blocker, Mahtomedi: Colorado State commit has 320 kills, 79 ace blocks and 55 digs for state-bound Zephyrs.

Alexis Opland, senior setter, East Ridge: Seton Hall commit has school-record 2,688 assists for state-bound Raptors, including 54 in a section final win over Eagan.

Alaina Panagiotopoulos, senior outside hitter, South St. Paul: Ferris State commit is Packers’ all-time leader in kills (1,297), digs (963) and aces (231). Led a program that won five matches in 2021 to 24 victories this fall.

Keira Schmidt, senior middle blocker, Eagan: Marquette commit hit over .430 this season with approximately 250 kills and 120 combined blocks.

Eleanor Weeks, senior outside hitter, Central: Sacramento State commit went north of 1,000 kills for Central while guiding the Minutemen to another conference title this fall.

Undated courtesy photo, circa Nov. 2024, of Alexis Opland of East Ridge, one of the finalists for Pioneer Press East Metro Volleyball Player of the Year. (Courtesy of East Ridge High School)
Undated courtesy photo, circa Nov. 2024, of Ava Ball of Nova Classical, one of the finalists for Pioneer Press East Metro Volleyball Player of the Year. (Courtesy of Nova Classical Academy)
Undated courtesy photo, circa Nov. 2024, of Silvie Graetzer of Mahtomedi, one of the finalists for Pioneer Press East Metro Volleyball Player of the Year. (Courtesy of Mahtomedi High School)
Undated courtesy photo, circa Nov. 2024, of Alaina Panagiotopoulos of South St. Paul, one of the finalists for Pioneer Press East Metro Volleyball Player of the Year. (Courtesy of South St. Paul High School)
Undated courtesy photo, circa Nov. 2024, of Rayna Christianson of Lakeville North, one of the finalists for Pioneer Press East Metro Volleyball Player of the Year. (Courtesy of Lakeville North High School)
Undated courtesy photo, circa Nov. 2024, of Eleanor Weeks of Central, one of the finalists for Pioneer Press East Metro Volleyball Player of the Year. (Courtesy of Central High School)
Undated courtesy photo, circa Nov. 2024, of Keira Schmidt of Eagan, one of the finalists for Pioneer Press East Metro Volleyball Player of the Year. (Courtesy of Eagan High School)

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