Henritze keeps Tigers rolling, laughing

Her numbers speak volumes. She leads the team with 253 kills and 33 aces and is second only to junior libero Jenny McReynolds with 163 digs. Head coach Glenn Nelson called her the best all-around freshman that the women's volleyball team has had in more than 10 years.

But outside hitter Parker Henritze's giant impact on her team doesn't end with on-court talent — she is also the resident stand-up comedian, effortlessly contributing humor to any situation.

Nelson beamed when he discussed the contributions that Henritze has already made to the team.

"I don't know if we've had a freshman come in and play that well and be that much of a factor since — I have to think about this — 1997, I think, when we started three freshmen," he said. "And even then, she's probably the most solid freshman we've put on the court in 10 years."

Henritze's most impressive talent is the range of her skills, Nelson said. Because she is best known for her punishing cross-court kills, her ability to play defense and to pass the ball effectively to her teammates often gets overlooked.

"[My first impression of Henritze] was that she could hit the ball pretty hard," Nelson said, unable to hold off a smile. "But what makes her so good and so valuable is that the rest of her game is so good. She's a good passer and receiver, she blocks well and plays defense well, and she serves well. She's got the complete game."

"My favorite part of the game is probably definitely hitting. In general, I love it, but defense is fun too. But yeah, I love hitting," Henritze said.

The general assumption about someone who is as talented as Henritze at such a young age would be that she must be from California, the volleyball hotspot of America — right?

Wrong. Henritze came to Princeton from Georgia, where "the game is just starting to take off. When I started, it was like really small and it wasn't part of the culture, but now it's starting to explode," Henritze said.

So how did she wind up becoming so adept when her program was only developing while she was?

"I had never even seen volleyball played before I showed up for tryouts in seventh grade," she said.

Her mother suggested that she quit softball and try her luck at volleyball after watching Henritze's older brother's high school team achieve success at this foreign sport. It wasn't until her sophomore year, however, that Henritze was convinced this was the game for her.

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"Sophomore year we won our first state championship, and just from that experience, it was just so much fun, I knew it was something I really wanted to do," Henritze said. "We won in soccer too, but it was really just different. So I cut down my time commitment to soccer and boosted it to volleyball, and I've been playing ever since."

Henritze is not the only one happy about her decision. She went on to lead her team to two more state titles in the next two years of high school, and her success didn't stop when she graduated.

After a quiet first tournament at Colgate, Henritze broke out at the Rider Classic. Her efforts were first recognized when she was named to the all-tournament team and subsequently awarded Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors. She not only matched that performance, but topped it the following weekend at Marist where she was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

She hasn't stopped since.

Yet when teammates talk about Henritze's impact on the team, they all comment on her off-court contributions as well as her athletic ones.

"She is the comic relief for the team," freshman Kelli Grobe said.

She invents new games for her teammates to play on road trips and keeps them entertained as they travel from school to school.

"She's a kooky one, and we love her," senior co-captain Lauren Grummet said. "She's definitely the most outgoing freshman. She's a stand-up comedian, and she's really sweet."

Her fellow freshmen echo this sentiment, retelling stories about Henritze "herding" the rest of them around campus during the first few days when everyone else was lost.

"She's definitely the one who knows someone everywhere we go," freshman Sasha Sadrai said. "She gets along with everyone, and everyone loves her."

"She's her own person," Grobe said. "She is so comfortable with what she wants and goes for it. And nobody resents her for it because she's Parker."

Henritze looks forward to the second half of the season for a chance for rematches against Princeton's Ivy League opponents.

"We haven't been outmatched," she said. "In the Ivy League there is parity, and everyone is good this year. The matches that we lost we haven't played well, and the ones we won we played beautifully. We haven't been outmatched; we just beat ourselves."

As the Tigers look to avenge those losses and dominate in the second half of the season, freshman phenomenon Henritze will be right there leading the way.