Devyn Dunn and the Knoxville Catholic Fighting Irish took on the Webb-Knoxville Spartans in a TSSAA Division II-AA East Region match on Monsignor Philip Thoni Court on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Catholic won 25-10, 25-22, 25-19. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY DAVE LINK
Devyn Dunn began her volleyball career when she was in the third grade, choosing to be a setter.
She got serious about it when she started playing club for K2 Volleyball in the fifth grade and progressed each year through her senior season at Catholic this fall.
It’s a demanding position, playing setter, and it’s not for everyone.
Catholic coach Brent Carter said Dunn has what it takes to be a great setter, not just a good one.
“Setting is the most unique position in volleyball,” Carter said, “because it not only requires a high-level of athleticism, but it’s all the other stuff that comes with being a great setter that separates the really good ones from the average ones.
“The great ones have a super competitive mindset because they’re constantly, every single point of every single set, looking across the net and looking at their side of the net and making decisions on what creates the best matchups. They’re really in a small sense very much like a highly skilled quarterback: competitive, intelligent, and leading people around them.”
Dunn, the 5Star Preps Player of the Year for the second straight year, was the starting setter all four years as Catholic went to the Division II-AA state tournament each season.
Her career with the Lady Irish includes one state championship (2021), a runner-up finish (2019), and two third-place finishes (2020-2022).
Dunn, Most Valuable Player of the 2021 state tournament, hoped for better at state this year, but had no problem with the team’s effort.
“We overall competed really well for us being a completely new team, unlike last year, and having to mesh with different people and different personalities,” she said. “But overall it was good, obviously not what we were going there to achieve, but we played really good and really hard as a group.”
LOTS OF ASSISTS
Dunn finished the 2022 season with almost 1,000 assists and is Catholic’s career leader in assists (3,491).
She has more digs (1,001) than any setter in school history.
She also finished with 235 career kills and 235 career service aces.
Carter said getting close to a 1,000-assist season is a tall task.
Devyn Dunn and the Knoxville Catholic Fighting Irish took on Webb in a Division II-AA East Region match on Sept. 15, 2022. (Photo by Danny Parker)
“(It) is just a crazy number for a high school setter in a season,” Carter said, “and that includes us running a 6-2 a couple of times, letting our freshman setter (Bella Ekeler) get some reps with varsity when we could.”
Dunn’s jump serve was usually right on target and her back-row play was spot-on.
“She competes from behind the end line as well,” Carter said. “When she goes back to serve, she’s trying to put the other team in a bad situation. One of the things about Devyn that’s been very evident since she was a little girl is if she sees somebody on the other side that can’t pass well, she’s going after them.”
Dunn took on a leadership role this year as the Irish had to replace four seniors (three regular rotation players) from the 2021 state championship team.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of improving that we needed to work on with Devyn as far as setting skills or learning a new part of the craft,” Carter said. “This year we were focused more on leadership and what it means to be a senior and how to get people to follow you, being the best senior that you can while you’re still trying to lead kids and finding a balance between being a great leader and also being able to be tough on people.”
Dunn said it was a learning experience – especially with an influx of freshmen on the varsity team.
“I think I really grew overall as a player, especially as a leader, since we had a lot of younger people that looked up to me,” Dunn said. “I needed to be that leader (Carter) was expecting me to be, and someone they always relied on and could see that if I was calm, then everyone else was going to be calm, and everything would be OK.”
WHAT’S NEXT
With the conclusion of high school volleyball, Dunn recently got back into the regular club season at K2 Volleyball, with tournaments running until the end of April.
She said club volleyball is different than high school.
“It’s a lot more vigorous, just the practice schedule and where we travel to and the overall work that we do,” she said.
Dunn, who hasn’t committed to play college volleyball, will be diligent about her choice.
She took a visit to the University of West Florida last April, and has been in contact with Furman, where former Catholic standout Grainne McGrath is in her freshman season.
There will be plenty of chances for Dunn to showcase her skills during the club season, as most college coaches are in-season during the high school season.
“During this club season it will really pick up,” Dunn said of the recruiting.