All-Area MVP: Bountiful’s Jordyn Harvey hit through, over and past just about everyone
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- Bountiful High senior Jordyn Harvey poses for a photograph outside Bountiful High School on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. Harvey, a Stanford signee, is the 2022 Standard-Examiner All-Area Volleyball Most Valuable Player. She posted 480 kills with a .360 hitting percentage, 367 serve receptions, 46 service aces, 22 blocks and 270 digs and helped lead Bountiful to the Region 5 championship and third place at the 5A state tournament.
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- Bountiful High’s Jordyn Harvey hits a shot during a 5A volleyball state quarterfinal match against Timpanogos on Nov. 3, 2022 at Utah Valley University.
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- Bountiful High’s Jordyn Harvey (center) reaches to pass the ball during the Redhawks’ 5A volleyball state tournament third-place match against Maple Mountain on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022 at Utah Valley University.
BOUNTIFUL — It sounds hard to believe that someone who’s signed to play college volleyball at Stanford next year started out hating the sport, but 12-year-old Jordyn Harvey indeed hated volleyball, albeit briefly.
The story goes that Harvey had let her club volleyball coach know she’d be 30 minutes late to her first practice.
A different coach, who didn’t know Harvey would be late, happened to be running practice that day. The coach became infuriated that Harvey was late and as punishment, made the 30-or-so other girls run, but not Harvey.
Harvey, who said she’d never so much as touched a volleyball before that day, was mortified during and after the practice.
“My mom’s like, ‘How was your first practice?’ and I just broke down and sobbed and was like, ‘I’m never going back, I’m not doing this, volleyball is not my thing,’ and I would fight my mom, I would go hide from her every time I had practice. I would make sure I’d go to my friend’s house and stay there,” Harvey said.
Things have changed. For starters, Harvey loves volleyball now. She relishes her four years as Bountiful High School’s outside hitter, a period highlighted by the 2021 state title run that included a three-set sweep over rival Woods Cross in the semifinals.
“Swept ’em,” Harvey said, with a knowing smile on her face.
Harvey is the 2022 Standard-Examiner All-Area Volleyball Most Valuable Player after helping lead Bountiful to a third straight region title and a third straight state semifinal, including this year’s tournament run that ended with a third-place finish.
She hit 480 kills (fourth in the state) with a .366 hitting percentage (seventh in the state), 46 service aces, 270 digs and 367 serve receptions this year.
“I had a responsibility to lead this team and do my job more so than I’ve had to in the past,” Harvey said. “I feel like even since my freshman year, I’ve had to take on the leadership role of being the starting outside hitter. But this year is different, you’re the captain now, you have to — and I feel like as an outside position, outsides are kind of like cleanup players.”
After three seasons with single-season kill amounts in the 300s, Harvey took things to another level this year with 480.
Part of that was the raw talent and athleticism that compelled Bountiful coach Sarah Chism to start the 6-foot Harvey at outside hitter as a freshman.
Another part was Harvey hit off the same setter, Evalyn Chism, all four years at BHS and the two had a quasi-telepathic connection on the court. Another part was the practice, hard work and attention to detail.
“At practice, honestly, I look so messy as a player. I’m swinging things out, I’m swinging things at the net, but that’s because you’re not going to get better at something unless you try it. There’s a few shots at practice where it’s like, ‘Jordyn, what are you doing?’ I’m just trying to hit that one spot, and then like finally when it clicks, you can do it in a game,” Harvey said.
Another large part of her stellar season came from the experience of three varsity high school seasons and numerous club volleyball seasons to draw from, along with a diverse array of shots to hit.
Much like golf, some volleyball situations call for different shots: hard hit down the line, softer hit in the middle of the court, a tip over the blockers. Harvey can do it all and, along with being an attention-grabbing outside hitter, was one of the best all-around players in the state this year.
“She has the physical ability to score points and over the years, she’s developed shots and range and different tempos and things like that, which have made it even more difficult to defend her. A lot of players have that, but her ability to terminate a ball is what sets her apart,” Sarah Chism said.
Along with innate talent, Chism said Harvey was super personable and outgoing, which made it easy to bridge the gap between her and underclassmen who were intimidated by sharing a gym with a Stanford-bound outside hitter.
“She loves to talk, she’s bubbly and fun, and the girls, you know, are drawn to that,” Chism said.
Harvey visited Stanford as a 13-year-old and her dad took a picture of her on the campus, standing in front of a building known at the time as Jordan Hall, and posted it on social media.
Jordyn replied with a comment, saying that she’d come back in five years to get an education.
“And of course at the time my parents are probably like, ‘Oh yeah, dream big, Jordyn,’ but as every year got closer I was like, ‘This is a reality that I have manifested,’ it kind of gives me chills,” Harvey said.
One of the first signs that Division-I volleyball was more of a real thing than a pipe dream was Harvey starting at Bountiful as a freshman.
“I think that the willingness to take a big role right from the start was there. She didn’t shy away from that even as a freshman. It was like, ‘I want the ball, I want to hit, I want to be part of this,'” Sarah Chism said.
By the summer between Harvey’s sophomore and junior years in high school after some very productive seasons with her club volleyball team, many colleges offered her a scholarship.
Stanford was one of them, but Harvey couldn’t verbally commit until she got accepted into the school, which has famously rigorous academic standards. She eventually met said standards, verbally committed in June of this year and took a photo wearing a Stanford sweater in the same spot where she took the photo four years prior.
As a senior at Bountiful, Harvey was still the same, talented, 6-footer with a live arm who could jump out of the gym. The main differences were an uncanny ability to put the ball away during a point as well as confidence that she could, well, put the ball away no matter the situation.
It resulted in 480 kills. Some of them were the thunderous, down-at-their-feet variety. Others were the crafty type that only a four-year starter could pull off.
At any rate, this season, more than others, was a 180-degree difference from where Harvey’s volleyball career started as a mortified 12-year-old.
Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.