For Bettis, remembering what she was like as an eighth-grader isn’t terribly difficult. As a senior, she could look at her younger sister, Kaliyah — the only eighth-grader on this year’s Blaze varsity roster — and see parts of herself.
“Starting young, you’re very nervous,” said Bettis, who began as a middle hitter for Burnsville, learning to hit around the conference’s big block. “I was kind of taken under wing by seniors, for sure, and they appreciated what I had. They respected me.”
Burnsville senior Mesaiya Bettis speaks to teammates, coaches and family at her signing day ceremony Wednesday. Bettis committed to Iowa State for volleyball. (Cassidy Hettesheimer/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Early in high school, she had jumped to the elite Northern Lights volleyball club with the hope of playing her sport in college, like her older brother, Khalif, who plays basketball at North Dakota State.
When Bettis visited Iowa State, she was looking for something similar to Burnsville’s “very tight program.”
“I always wanted to play at a high level, either Big Ten or Big 12,” Bettis said. “But also: What’s the record? Who’s playing? Are they inclusive?”
