CHICAGO – Rampart’s Izzy Starck has been named the 2022-23 Gatorade Colorado Volleyball Player of the Year, announced Friday, Jan. 13. Starck is the second Gatorade Colorado Volleyball Player of the Year to be chosen from Rampart, joining her sister, Anjelina.
The 6-foot-1 junior setter and outside hitter led the Rams to a 24-6 record and a berth in the 5A state semifinals this past season. Starck led the Rams with 501 assists to go with 332 digs, 69 blocks and 51 aces. She was second on the team with 424 kills. A member of Team USA’s Under-19 national squad, she was also a 5A First-Team All-State selection and the Colorado Springs Metro League Player of the Year.
Starck has volunteered locally at Rampart High School’s Dig Pink Night, a team bake sale to raise funds for the Side-Out Foundation supporting breast cancer research and treatment. She also has donated her time packing food for the homeless on behalf of multiple charitable organizations. Starck has maintained a 3.58 weighted GPA in the classroom. She has made a verbal commitment to play volleyball on scholarship at Penn State beginning in the fall of 2024.
“She is a phenomenal athlete and brings so much to the game,” said Eaton head coach Gwen Forster. “She was a six-rotation player who attacked well, served well, played great defense, and set for them. She handled pressure well.”
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Starck as Colorado’s best high school volleyball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Volleyball Player of the Year award to be announced in January, Starck joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners, including Lexi Sun (2016-17, Santa Fe Christian School, Calif.), Jordan Larson (2004-05, Logan View High School, Neb.), Foluke Akinradewo (2004-05, St. Thomas High School, Fla.) and April Ross (1999-00, Newport Harbor High School, Calif.).
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Starck joins recent Gatorade Colorado Volleyball Players of the Year Carter Booth (2021-22, Cherry Creek High School), Anjelina Starck (2020-21, Rampart High School), Julianna Dalton (2019-20, Chaparral High School), and McKenna Sciacca (2018-19, Lewis-Palmer High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.