Before Alex Acevedo joins the Oregon Ducks, she's finishing up a detour - to Idaho volleyball powerhouse Skyview

NAMPA, Idaho - Alex Acevedo could have ended up anywhere.

Forest fires and the coronavirus pandemic drove her family to load up and pile into their car in search of something new. They found it more than 300 miles east in Nampa, Idaho of all places.

The 6-foot-2 Skyview High School junior outside hitter now finds herself on a storied program as one of the state's best players.

The University of Oregon commit will look to help the Hawks, who have won 12 district championships in a row, to a three-peat at the Class 4A championships as they open up Friday against Blackfoot at Thunder Ridge High School

"She’s definitely one of the best kids who have played in this area, for sure - and in the state of Idaho, honestly," Skyview coach Kevin Murphy said. 

Acevedo could have been that for the state of Oregon, too. The Bend native made her first travel team by fourth grade. Three years later, she committed to the premier in-state Pacific-12 Conference program

"There’s this picture of me when I was 7 or 8 with a high ponytail wearing a Marcus Mariota jersey and Duck shorts," Acevedo said with a laugh. "So I’ve always just been a huge Duck fan."

She was set to make her much-anticipated debut for Summit High School, which has won two state titles and made five finals appearances, but COVID-19 delayed the season until the spring of 2021.

Acevedo kept busy: She trained with a personal coach 2-3 times a week and in between, practiced at a makeshift volleyball court inside her father's gym that entire fall. 

Acevedo never got to play for Summit or have a ninth grade season, though. Nearby wildfires complicated the situation more by degrading the air quality. That coupled with the uncertainty of when high school sports would resume in Oregon, made the family feel it was in its best interest to leave.

"We just got in the car and started driving - just totally random. We had no plan at all," Acevedo said. "We just ended up here. We were like, 'We kind of like it here.' And two weeks later, we made an offer on a house."

They liked it even more after discovering there was a perennial powerhouse volleyball program in their own backyard.

Skyview has made seven consecutive state championship game appearances, winning in four of them, including the past two seasons in the Class 5A ranks.

The school has not lost to a league opponent - 5A or 4A SIC - in more than seven years, dating back to the 2015 season (lost to Kuna). The winning streak is 113 matches ... and counting.

The Hawks have also produced a who’s who of in-state NCAA Division I volleyball players, such as Dani Richins (Weber State), Whitney Bower (BYU) and Lily Austin (Wyoming), to name a few.

"When we did some research on Skyview volleyball, we’re like, 'OK, well, we've got to go here now,'" Acevedo said with a laugh.

Murphy, who was fresh off the first Class 5A state title in school history in 2020, already felt really good about his upcoming squad. He had five returners, including Eden Bower, who is now playing for No. 17 BYU.

But his daughter Karen Murphy, a captain at Dartmouth, told him he needed to check out this girl who had just enrolled at Skyview. So Kevin Murphy went to watch her play club for Idaho Crush during the summer of 2021.

He was blown away.

"A kid with that kind of size and that kind of athleticism, you don’t see that too often," Murphy said. "She’s long, jumps well and with her doing track too, is one of the fastest kids out there.

"And her skill set is great. She has a great arm, passes well, serves well and blocks well. She’s got the entire package."

Needless to say, Skyview ended up doing quite well that season with her now on board, too. So much so that it knocked off the No. 1 team in the country at the prestigious Durango Fall Classic in Las Vegas. The Hawks were ranked as high as 13th in the nation on their way to a 36-2 season and another state title.

Acevedo earned both first-team all-state and all-league honors as just a sophomore that season.

"It was a crazy year, but so much fun," Acevedo said. "When I think of last year, that was the epitome of it. I was just so thankful to be a part of such a great program after everything."

Things haven’t quite gone as smoothly for Acevedo this season.

She’s spent most of the year not fully healthy after injuring her right knee in April. Acevedo broke it during a long-jump attempt at track practice. She heard the dreaded "loud pop" and had to be helped out of the pit by coaches.

Thankfully, no ligaments were severely damaged. But the front of her tibia had still completely broken off - something doctors estimated had happened months prior to track season.

Acevedo had surgery April 29 and was doing therapy just a week later.

"Physical therapy every day, laser treatments, herbal supplements, you name it, I was doing literally everything possible to heal as fast as possible," Acevedo said.

She was cleared right before tryouts in August. but it still took her almost another two months to return to form. A sudden injury in her right shoulder didn’t help matters, either.

Doctors were baffled, too. They said it could be anything from a flap tear to a strained rotator cuff to tendonitis. Acevedo was preparing to have labrum surgery when the pain just magically went away. It still caused her to miss multiple weeks of the season and just play back row for a little while.

"We all felt for her," Murphy said. "She was building up the muscle, the strength and the stamina because she hadn’t been doing anything for a while.

"She was really trying to get back to the athlete she was before all that."

It took a while, but Acevedo got there and showed it on the national stage.

Skyview was one of only four teams, along with Papillion La Vista South High School (Nebraska), Ponte Vedra High School (Florida), and Cathedral Catholic High School (California) to be selected for the second annual GEICO Girls Volleyball Invitational on Oct. 7-8 in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Hawks’ first match against Papillion La Vista South was nationally televised on ESPNU. They ended up losing in four sets, but Acevedo proved she was back. She recorded a match-high 28 kills and was interviewed on television afterward.

Acevedo totaled 42 kills, 23 digs, six aces and four blocks in the two matches for the Hawks, who ended up winning the third-place match the next day.

"It was good to show everyone what I can do, but I think it was more important for myself. It may have been the atmosphere, but I just really felt like myself again," Acevedo said. "It was definitely surreal, but honestly I think that kind of pressure makes me play better in a way even if it’s the crowd cheering against me. I don’t know if it’s the adrenaline or what, but I always seem to do better and just feel more engaged with crowds like that."

Acevedo and company will now face the crowd of state where they will be overwhelming favorites to walk away with the program’s fifth state title. The Hawks have won 51 consecutive matches against in-state opponents.

This has not been a bad place for Acevedo to end up at.

"I’m just glad that my family could make the change for that to happen because I don’t think that would have happened to me if I would have stayed or maybe gone somewhere else," Acevedo said. "It’s just like 10 steps up and I’m just really happy that I can be a part of it."

(Featured photo by Jesse Torres)