FeedsLady Eagle hitter heads to Ferris State
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Romulus spiker Brianna Grover signed her letter of intent to play volleyball at Ferris State University next year.Brianna Grover just signed her National Letter of Intent to play volleyball at Ferris State University and was all smiles while doing so.
The Romulus star is quiet and modest about her achievement off the court, but you would never guess it by watching her performance on it. There, she is a force to be reckoned with as she knocks down kills and bats down blocks for the Romulus Lady Eagles during the fall high school season and with her Michigan Elite team out of Warren in the off-season.
All of the hard work and the decision to give up competitive dance have paid off with a scholarship to Ferris.
“I’m excited because I’ve worked so hard to get here,” Grover said. “I just started playing club only three years ago. I was at a disadvantage because most girls start playing (club) in seventh or eighth grade—I didn’t start until ninth.”
It’s a good thing Grover is a quick learner. As a freshman, she said her Romulus High varsity coach Mike Hunter approached her about playing on a club team.
With the Michigan elite squad, Grover was a teammate with the recently crowned Miss Volleyball, Olivia Kohler, and a runner-up Lindsey Dulude.
“Club (volleyball) makes all the difference,” said Monica Hamilton, Grover’s beaming mother. “There’s no comparison to the level of play at club compared to high school. Through club she plays with the best girls in the state and against the best girls in the state—that’s amazing.”
Playing in a traveling club league offered Grover a chance to not only see a lot of the country but to be seen by a lot of the country’s college and university coaches. She had plenty of offers from schools like Butler, Grand Valley State, Hampton, Howard, North Carolina AT but by the time some of the offers came in she was already set on Ferris.
The decision was easier than one might think.
She wanted good pharmacy program. That narrowed the field tremendously with just more than 90 universities in the country offering such a program. She narrowed that even further when she decided that she wanted to stay within 3-6 hours from home. That criterion left the University of Michigan, Wayne State and Ferris State.
Ferris State offered and she jumped at the opportunity.
“I liked the campus and wanted to stay close to home so that my parents could come to see my games—three hours isn’t that bad of a ride,” Grover said. “Plus I wanted to be able to come home whenever I felt like it.
“It’s very important to me to have my parents there,” she said. “They have been with me since I started playing in seventh grade.”
Grover admits that it was the club team that helped get her the scholarship but she doesn’t dismiss her high school experiences.
“There were a lot of good memories as a senior like being a captain and helping to lead the team,” she said. “It was fun—I love the girls I played with.
She hits, she digs, she jumps and she blocks and she does it all with the grace of a skilled dancer—probably because she is.
She was a competitive dancer at Dance Connection in Canton Township for eight years. She had made Dance USA National Dance Team two years in a row and competed for a spot to dance in Barcelona, Spain on the international team. The schedule was too hectic come her junior year and she gave up dance for volleyball.
Her mother thinks it was the right choice. Grover heads to Ferris on August 8.
“I’m excited for her,” Hamilton said. “She’s really worked hard. I never really knew her potential in seventh and eighth grade. But to watch her grow into the player she is today has been amazing. A parent cannot be more proud of a kid.”
