Alyssa Gammel says she tries not to display too much emotion on the volleyball court. Instead, she saves up body, mind and spirit for that perfect moment: The one when she’s set up perfectly, the ball hangs in the air and so does she, and then — and don’t blink here — her right arm spins around in a blur.
Time after time, the ball hits the floor. Or a face.
“She’s probably hit more defenders square in the face than any player I can remember having,” Centennial coach Brooke Roberts said. “Sometimes I feel sorry for them.”
Wouldn’t you too, if you knew they couldn’t get out of the way fast enough?
That perfect spike, which Gammel has worked tirelessly to achieve, happened time and time again in her junior season. That’s why she’s The Californian’s All-Area Volleyball Player of the Year.
“I first started playing volleyball in the third grade,” Gammel said. “I was 12 when I started playing in a club. And I was always told I could hit the ball hard. But you don’t really think about it.”
Gammel credits natural strength and weight training for her cannon. But there’s more to it.
“It has to be a perfect set,” she said, “and perfect footwork, and all of the little things — how fast your arm moves, how fast your approach is — all play into it.”
Gammel would know. She made 326 kills this year, at an average of 3.9 a game, and though Centennial doesn’t keep hitting percentage, Roberts said Gammel undoubtedly had a high one.
“She puts the ball on the floor an extraordinary percentage of the time,” the coach said, and that’s a high compliment, considering Roberts’ 1996 Golden Hawks finished No. 1 in a national USA Today poll.
But, as Roberts also points out, Gammel had 2.7 digs a game. That’s impressive because when Gammel came to Centennial, she was a middle blocker, a player normally spelled by a libero when she rotated to the back line. Since then, Roberts moved the 5-foot-9  Gammel  to outside hitter and tried her on defense, too.
“I thought, ‘Gosh, she’s such a great athlete; let’s develop defensive skills,’” Roberts said. “There was a bit of a learning curve, but now, she’s a very well-rounded player.”
That led Centennial to a 29-4 season and an undefeated record against Central Section teams until a Division I semifinal loss to eventual champion Clovis West.
“I didn’t go into the season expecting that we were going to blow everybody out of the water,” Gammel said. “Expectations weren’t low, but they weren’t too high. I was proud of how we finished.”
Bakersfield High coach Tom Clarke, who coaches against Gammel during the high school season but with her at his Club Jamba, knows she’s a big reason why Centennial did so well.
“She’s by far the most physical kid I’ve seen come out of Bakersfield, no question,” he said. “She can really get up off the floor and really works hard to be a powerful kid.”
You might say she’s already hitting the ball like a college player, and — lo and behold — colleges have noticed. Letters have poured in from across the country, though Gammel said the most serious interest thus far has come from Virginia Tech, Colorado State and St. Mary’s.
But first will come another year at Centennial making life miserable for defenses.
“Her senior year is going to be a show,” Clarke said.
A show complete, no doubt, with plenty of those perfect kills.
“I don’t show too much emotion; I like to be a calm, cool player,” Gammel said. “But when you get that kill, it feels like all your work has paid off when you want it to.”