This week's girls' award winner might be only a junior, but this hard-hitter from the Sac-Joaquin Section already has a full fare ticket to a Pac-10 college.

By Harold Abend, Special to CalHiSports.com

	Zoe Nightingale

Coaches are prone to gush about the exploits of their stars, but the things said by coach Alynn Wright from St. Francis of Sacramento about Zoe Nightingale of her team, are right there in black and white. This is why she's an excellent choice as this week's ESPN RISE CalHiSports.com Girls State Athlete of the Week.

The 6-4 junior middle blocker not only has some of the most outstanding statistics in the Sac-Joaquin Section, but also for the entire state.

Academically, Nightingale also has a 3.7 GPA at a Catholic college preparatory school for young women with some of the highest scholastic standards in the Sacramento area.

Plus, she's the consummate teammate and has exemplary character. No wonder the coaches at UCLA made her an offer she accepted last March – prior to her summer club and sophomore prep season.    

"I've had a number of top kids but Zoe is one of those special athletes that come along, and if you have one like them, you're lucky. She has the potential to have a very long volleyball career,” said Wright, a first-grade teacher at the local parish school in her 21st season coaching St. Francis.

"Besides being as talented as she is, she's very kind and humble and a great teammate,” continued Wright, who has 15 league and nine section titles, and whose 2005 team was 41-1 and won the Division III state championship.

"Zoe is one of those athletes that go the extra mile fitness-wise to play at a high level. She trains extremely hard in the off season with weight training, and works on her strength and agility, and jumping,” said Wright, who has coached club for over 20 years, and first had Nightingale on her Force Club under-12 team and now coaches her on the under-17 team.

Nightingale also goes the extra paces in her schoolwork and when it came to choosing a college.

"She had just about every school in the top 25 to 50 schools in the country that wanted her,” continued the coach. "She did her due diligence and made her choice. She's a very serious, committed student-athlete.”

In reality, none of it would be a real story if not for Zoe's numbers on the court.

After 10 kills on 18 attempts with only two errors, two aces, eight digs, three serves received and one assist, in a 3-0 victory on the road Wednesday night at Sacramento Sheldon, Nightingale's seasonal stats are 264 kills with a 46.18 hitting percentage, 39 aces, 76 blocks with 110 assists, 293 digs, 209 serves received and 16 assists for the 26-5 Troubadours.

Nightingale's high water mark for kills was 16 in a season opening loss to Sac-Joaquin power Nevada Union (Grass Valley), a loss the team later avenged in early October at the Great Eight tournament in North Carolina.

The hitting percentage ranks seventh in the state, and second among top-ranked programs behind only Krista Vansant of Redlands East Valley. Exactly one year ago, Vansant was the State Girls Athlete of the Week.

Still, when CalHiSports.com caught up to Zoe for a 6:45 am interview on Thursday morning, her humility showed when the first subject that came up was the team and its goals. In fact, never once did she mention any personal volleyball goals.

"At the beginning of the year we made a poster with 15 goals,” Nightingale said. "We're taking it step by step, win league, win section and like everyone, we want to win state. We're working hard and we're hopeful.”

"Our team has great chemistry. There's not a single girl we all don't get along with,” continued Zoe.

She calls Mary Clark her best friend on the team. The 6-1 fellow junior middle blocker has 234 kills, 20 aces, 39 blocks, and 122 digs this season.

Libero Katie Fontes is a senior who according to Zoe "keeps everyone together. She's so sweet.”

Besides her high school and club volleyball, Zoe has participated in four Junior Olympics from 2006-2009.

As for what she'll study at Westwood and why she chose UCLA, Nightingale thinks the curriculum will have to do with anatomy with an eye on a possible career in physical therapy. "I like studying the human body.”

"I thought about a lot of schools and then narrowed it down to one or two, but UCLA had it all, the coaches, the program, and Southern California. I like it there.” she remarked.

When the subject came to family, there were some giggles and chuckles when Zoe was asked if her parents were athletes. "Neither of my parents were athletes. My whole family has tried to figure out how my sister and I are more athletic,” said Nightingale, trying not to laugh.

Little sister Noa, age 13, plays volleyball, and according to the sisters' proud mom Cheryl, participated in this year's Junior Olympics.

"I think she looks up to me and I hope she does,” said Zoe about little sis. "She's tall like me and everybody tells her she does everything like me only in the eighth grade.”

Besides being a chauffeur and the girls' biggest fan, Cheryl finds time to be a real estate agent.

Non-athletic dad Jeff does pretty well in his field of software sales, and of course he's as big a fan of the girls as his wife.   

The road to the Division II state championship game in Irvine probably goes through ESPN FAB 50 No. 1 ranked San Jose Archbishop Mitty, but whether or not the Troubadours make it to the Promised Land this year or not, the folks at St. Francis have Zoe Nightingale for one more year, and who knows what that will bring.

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