Gabby DiVita is ranked No. 3 HS volleyball player in Michigan. A Nebraska commit, Gabby has Grosse Pointe South hoping to capture first state title.
Grosse Pointe South senior Gabby DiVita had minor arthroscopic knee surgery just three weeks ago. But there she was Thursday, Aug. 14, on the volleyball court during the team's first practice of the season.
Athletic director Andy Rishmawi was surprised to see her playing. He knew that wasn't the doctor's orders.
"I'm normal Andy," Gabby shouted across the gym.
That determination is what the Blue Devils will need to tap into as they attempt to make school history and win the team's first state championship.
Gabby is the No. 3 ranked player in Michigan, according to Prepdig. In January, she'll begin her collegiate career at Nebraska, joining two former Michigan Miss Volleyball winners and National Gatorade Players of the Year Harper Murray and Campbell Flynn.
Last season, Gabby, an outside hitter, recorded 491 kills, 263 digs, 63 aces and had a well above average 38.8% hitting percentage, earning All-State honors for the second consecutive season. She was also an All-State honorable mention as a freshman in 2022.
Over the past three seasons, Grosse Pointe South has successfully made it to the state playoffs but has fallen short in the opening round of the regional tournament. Gabby, 18, said the team will need to control "the little details" if it truly wants to make a run to the state final.
"I think the little things is huge," Gabby said, "and we say that in practice a lot when we come in and if (we're) looking a little messy, we just say, 'Let's control the controllables and move on. And I think that's something that we kind of live by in our gym, and I think that'll just push us over the hump."
Underdog mindset
The Blue Devils begin their second season in the Macomb Area Conference, where they hadn't played since 1998, Janeil DiVita, varsity volleyball coach and DiVita's mother, said. Last season, the team went 16-14-1 in the regular season, finishing third in the MAC Red Division.
The team has had some success, but Gabby said it enters every season as "the underdog" putting "a chip on our shoulders."
"I feel like a lot of people don't hear about Grosse Pointe South," she said. "So I think they don't expect a lot from you and then you go on and we do really good and we make it happen."
Junior teammate Charlotte Kowal, 16, said the Blue Devils use that perspective to their advantage.
"I think going in and having that mentality that people maybe underestimate us, we use it to motivate and be like, 'we're not the underdog,'" Kowal said.
Goal setting
Gabby's mom, Janeil, believes this year's team has the talent to get over the hump and capture its first state championship. But the Blue Devils also have other goals to conquer first, including winning all home games, and defeating conference rival L'Anse Creuse North.
Instead of a vision board or list of goals, the team came up with a plan by creating a pyramid, Janeil said.
"The top of it is our state championship goal," she said, "and then the different things underneath that."
Aside from winning a state final, Gabby has another trophy in mind.
"Miss Volleyball for sure," she said. "I've had my eye on Gatorade Player of the Year, and then a really big one would be National Gatorade Player of the Year."
Janeil believes her daughter can achieve those goals.
"I think the thing that separates her is her mindset and her want and her will and her drive," Janeil said. "So I think she's going to need that going to a program like she's going to."
The Blue Devils open their season on the road against Clarkston on Aug. 28.
Eric Guzmán covers youth sports culture at the Free Press as a corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support this work.
Contact Eric Guzmán: [email protected]; 313-222-1850. Follow him on X: @EricGuzman90.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Gabby DiVita plans to make Grosse Pointe South history in 2025
Category: General Sports
