Gorman volleyball star adds to family legacy on way to state record

Gregg Nunley has seen several outstanding girls volleyball players throughout his many years coaching at the high school and college level.

Nunley, who has coached at Bishop Gorman since 2018, still remembers what he heard at a national tournament during his time as a Texas Tech assistant in the late 1990s. He said the sound the volleyball made when one player struck it was different from anything he had heard before.

“Kaboom.”

The player who hit the ball was Kerri Walsh, a senior at Archbishop Mitty (California) who went on to win three Olympic gold medals in beach volleyball.

Only one other player has produced a similar feeling for Nunley: Gaels senior outside hitter Ayanna Watson.

“The only other time I’ve heard that sound is when Ayanna has hit the ball,” Nunley said.

Watson is the top girls volleyball player in Nevada. She has helped Gorman win each of the past two Class 5A state titles, and the Gaels remain the favorite this year.

Watson is also on the verge of further etching her name into the state’s record book. The Pitt commit has 1,901 career kills and could set a state record when Gorman plays at the Nike Tournament of Champions on Friday and Saturday in Phoenix.

The all-time state record for career kills is 2,015, set by Yerington’s Kayla Lommori.

Watson has 274 kills in 38 sets this year. She had 35 of them in the Gaels’ four-set win over Mater Dei (California), ranked No. 4 nationally by MaxPreps, on Sept. 18.

“The amount of attention on her, she’s really adjusted well,” Nunley said. “It’s almost as if she doesn’t expect it. She is surprised that people want to talk to her about her experiences. … She just takes it in stride.”

Watson is a two-time Gatorade state player of the year and 5A player of the year. She is the daughter of 10-year NBA veteran C.J. Watson, who played basketball at Gorman. C.J. Watson won two state titles (2000, 2002) and was a two-time Gatorade state player of the year.

“You always want your kids to be better than you,” C.J. Watson said. “I’m always proud of her.”

‘A perfect fit’

Ayanna Watson played different sports growing up and began to enjoy basketball. Then her mother made her try out for her middle school volleyball team.

“I only started because my mom made me go to tryouts at my middle school,” Watson said. “When I started, I was terrible. I couldn’t serve the ball over the net overhand.”

Watson made the team and quickly got over being “mad” at her mom for making her try out. Things got more serious when she was in eighth grade and met Nunley at an open house at Gorman.

“It seemed like it would be a perfect fit for her to come here,” Nunley said. “I remember her coming by and some of the current volleyball players at the time saying, ‘Oh, she’s going to be good.’ She was super shy and quiet — we didn’t even talk. I thought, ‘OK, she’s a tall kid, so we’ll see.’ And she’s really turned herself into a player. She’s come along from then. That shy little girl turned into this strong, independent young woman who’s doing things.”

Watson said she was “scared” of Nunley at first and wasn’t sure if she was going to make the freshman team. But then she got a call after tryouts asking which team she wanted to be on.

“Varsity,” Watson said.

‘Very coachable’

Watson had 317 kills in 93 sets as a freshman, but suffered a stress fracture in her leg and missed the postseason.

C.J. Watson said his daughter had “a lot of motivation” to come back strong. He tried to make sure she didn’t worry about missing games and instead focused on coming back stronger after her recovery.

“It’s like revenge on my injury,” Ayanna Watson said. “The season before, I fell short in my freshman year and I couldn’t play in the (state) tournament. So coming back, it was a chance for me to prove what I can do and how I had redeveloped because my leg got hurt and I couldn’t even walk. I had to revamp the way I played.”

She came back strong for her sophomore year, recording 605 kills as Gorman won the 5A state title. Last season was more of the same. Watson had 705 kills, the third-most by a Nevada player in a season, according to the NIAA record book.

She could have set the career kills record earlier, but she missed two weeks this fall to play for USA Volleyball at the FIVB Women’s U21 World Championship in Indonesia.

“A lot of (the great girls volleyball players) know they’re good. A lot of them aren’t very coachable, but Ayanna is,” Nunley said. “She’s a sweet girl off the court, but on the court she’s a super tough competitor. She knows when to turn it on and when to turn it off.”

‘I’m going to beat you’

Watson said she lost count of how many scholarship offers she received. She added the recruiting process went “faster” than expected, and she committed to Pitt in the summer of 2024. The Panthers have been to four straight Final Fours.

“Other than the staff and girls, I really like how it’s more of an outdoorsy type of place, how it’s chill,” Watson said. “Here, it is really loud and lights and all that, and I wanted something else and I really like that about Pitt.”

C.J. Watson, who played point guard at Tennessee before going to the NBA, and his wife, Danielle, raised their daughter to “create her own lane.” That’s what she’ll do in college.

C.J. Watson also admitted Ayanna gets her competitive side from him and his wife. Game nights sometimes end in arguments.

But family is also a strong motivator for Ayanna Watson. Her father’s jersey is framed on a wall above the main entry to Gorman’s gym. His name is listed twice among the Gaels athletes who were Gatorade state players of the year in their sport.

“His jersey’s up here,” Ayanna Watson said. “It’s a reminder every day that I need to stay on my stuff. He’s the person who reminds me the most of being productive and not wasting my time.”

Watson said she’s more focused on winning a third state title than setting the kills record. But she would like to win a third Gatorade player of the year award, which would give her bragging rights over her father.

“When I was a freshman, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to beat that,’” Watson said. “We joke about it, but it’s also not a joke to me. I’m going to beat you.”

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.