Volleyball Adds Three in Signing Class

AMES, Iowa – Christy Johnson-Lynch has announced the addition of three to the 2024 class. Emily Bobbitt, Rachel Van Gorp and Shae Pearson have all signed with Iowa State Volleyball.

The trio includes a setter, libero/outside hitter and middle blocker originating from North Carolina, Kansas and Missouri. Johnson-Lynch says she is excited about how competitive the group is.

Emily Bobbitt, Setter

Bobbitt is a setter out of Clayton, North Carolina playing for Coach Charles Riley at Corinth Holders High School and for Triangle Volleyball Club. The setter has been named to numerous watch lists by the AVCA, Prep Volleyball, JVA and NCVBCA in addition to JVA All National teams. Bobbitt has also earned multiple conference player of the year honors. Through three seasons, Bobbitt totals 680 kills, 665 assists, 493 digs, 143 aces and 72 blocks.

"Emily has played a very high level of volleyball her whole career," Johnson-Lynch said. "She's played for a great club and competed for a national championship. She's a tremendous setter and competitor. She loves the game and everything about it. She loves the training as a setter, she's put in a lot of hours working with some really good coaches on her technique and she was a great fit. She was looking for the situation we offered of wanting to play for a great program with a great atmosphere and history of training setters while having a lot of success at that position."

𝑺𝑰𝑮𝑵𝑬𝑫: 𝑬𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝑩𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒕

Welcome to the Cyclone Family, Emily!

🌪️🏐🌪️ pic.twitter.com/31aSrxWF5C
— Iowa State Volleyball (@CycloneVB) November 8, 2023

Rachel Van Gorp, Libero/Outside Hitter

Van Gorp is a libero and outside hitter from Olathe, Kansas. Van Gorp has Iowa State roots as her late mother Janice Ninemeyer played volleyball at ISU from 1987-91 and still ranks sixth in career aces (122), 17^th in digs (1,001), 25^th in kills (833) and 27^th in points (1,036).

Van Gorp plays at Heritage Christian Academy for Coaches Tom Slaughter and Rebecca Davis. Van Gorp's team won three-straight Kansas State Championships, while she picked up back-to-back Kansas Class 3A Player of the Year nods (2022 and 2021) and three-straight All-Tournament and All-State honors. The Kansas native also earned a spot on the AVCA Phenom watch list and has picked up conference player of the year honors. Van Gorp totaled 1,189 kills, 764 digs and 172 aces in her freshman through junior seasons and currently totals over 200 kills and 170 digs as a senior. Also an outstanding track and field athlete, Van Gorp has won three Kansas Class 3A State Championships through the long and triple jump and finished top five multiple times through sprinting events.

"Rachel is a phenomenal volleyball player," Johnson-Lynch said. "She's played at a very high level for a long time. She can play the whole game and has a very high volleyball IQ. She can pass, play defense, hit, serve; she's kind of got all the skills. Rachel is an incredible competitor. I think when I recruited her that's probably what I noticed first and foremost. She's very skilled, but she's a tremendous competitor and she gets better with more pressure and the bigger the competition, so that alone will be a huge asset for us.

"She also has a tremendous connection to Iowa State. Her mom, Janice, played at Iowa State and was a great player who left a tremendous legacy here. Janice loved Iowa State and was always promoting Iowa State. She's following in some pretty amazing footsteps here and that's something special, you don't see that very often. I think that's an amazing opportunity for us to have Rachel here competing for our program and for Rachel to wear her mom's number and do the same."

It's official, Rachel's a Cyclone!

🌪️🏐🌪️ pic.twitter.com/ttVrmsjs2m
— Iowa State Volleyball (@CycloneVB) November 8, 2023

Shae Pearson, Middle Blocker

Pearson is a middle blocker from Saint Charles, Missouri. Pearson is a four-year letterwinner at Francis Howell Central High School, playing for Coach Julie Gronek. Pearson has family with connections to Iowa State and grew up attending ISU events. The middle blocker is a three-time First Team All-Conference and All-District honoree in addition to being named to JVA and AVCA High School All-America Watch Lists.

"Shae is a really exciting athlete for us," Johnson-Lynch said. "She's a great blocker, she's a great slide hitter, great arm. I think she's a little under-the-radar, she was out part of her club season and now that she's back and getting into that groove, we just loved what we saw in terms of athlete, attitude and work ethic. It was an easy fit, she knew a lot about us and had a lot of interest. She's a tremendous athlete and just a really fun person. She fits in well with our culture and our team."