BLUEFIELD, VA. – In his continued pursuance of top student-athletes to join the transformation of the volleyball program, Coach Butski announces the signing of Alderson, W. Va., native Kaitlyn Shaver of Greenbrier East High School to a letter of intent last month.
 
"I had originally watched video of Kaitie at the beginning of last summer and was interested in learning more about her," Butski recalled.
 
After finishing her junior season in 2012, when the team qualified for the state tournament and Shaver was voted second team All-State as a middle hitter with 390 kills, she was asked to change positions in the off-season to set and to hit outside for her Greenbrier East team for her senior year.
 
"Apparently, her high school coach Matt Sauvage had her in the gym and the weight room all last summer and I was able to see quite a transformation when I saw her play again in the fall," continued Butski.
 
"Knowing that he needed her to step up as well as to change positions, Coach Sauvage told me that Kaitie worked as hard as any player he had ever coached and the effort really paid off from what I could see on the court."
 
Greenbrier East finished the 2013 season as West Virginia State Runner up in AAA, with  Kaitie putting down 431 kills as an outside hitter and distributing 916 assists as a setter while running their 6-2 offense. After the season, Shaver was named first team All-State and played in the West Virginia State Senior All-Star Game. 
 
During her four years on the varsity team, Shaver played in the most sets ever for a Greenbrier East player and finished second all-time in both kills and blocks. For her high school career, Shaver finished with 1117 kills, 200 aces, 195.5 blocks, 532 digs, 950 assists, and two trips to the state tournament.
 
"As a person, Kaitie is exactly the type of player we are looking for - she's intelligent (GPA over 4.0), hard-working, very skilled (WV Wendy's HS Heisman Finalist), a team player—as shown by her willingness to change positions for her senior year—and very spiritually motivated as a member of FCA and a church camp counselor. She qualified for the state meet in shot put during her junior year and is quite an overall athlete. Both her mother (basketball and softball) and father (baseball) played sports at West Virginia Tech. They are very supportive and wanted her to be close enough to home that they could attend her matches," Butski explained.
 
"Kaitie visited campus several times and was well-liked by her future Ram teammates who were very instrumental in her recruitment. Her training and championship experience allows her to transition well to college level," continued Butski. "She has great ball control, serves a wicked jump float, can make swings from pin to pin, and has wonderful hands. As she adjusts to the tempo of the college game and the speed and strength of the players, I see her as being able to train and compete for playing time at multiple positions during this fall season."
 
When asked about her decision to attend Bluefield College, Shaver responded, "I decided to go to Bluefield College because I believe that God wanted me there. Also, I wanted to stay close to home. I believe that BC can offer me the great education and also the spiritual guidance that I will need. I also wanted to play volleyball at the collegiate level and I can do that at BC."
 
"I am looking forward to being a part of the Bluefield volleyball team as well as the entire BC family," continued Shaver. "Being a part of the college life at BC will allow me to express myself in many ways but also allow be to become the individual God wants to be because of the spiritual guidance and experience at a Christian college."  She says that what she will miss most about home "is seeing and spending time with my family every day and watching my sister play volleyball."
 
At Greenbrier East, Kaitie was a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (Student Officer), Mu Alpha Theta Mathematics Honor Society, and the National Honor Society. In the community of Alderson, she was a Junior Church camp counselor, Greenbrier East colleyball camp counselor, Greenbrier Valley Club volleyball helper, Eastern Greenbrier Middle School volleyball aide, Alderson Elementary Energy Express Volunteer, Alderson Elementary Field Day volunteer, and Alderson Elementary Jump Rope for Heart volunteer. She will major in mathematics as a member of the Honors Program here at Bluefield College.
 
Coach Butski finished with, "We'll have an oversized roster this fall in keeping with our stated goals of creating a competitive environment in the practice gym. Players will have to work very hard to earn playing time this season, continually getting stronger and in developing their on-court and communication skills. This will be a cooperative-competitive environment for them as they push each other to become better and reach our goal of a conference championship. This has to be a team effort with little room for selfishness over a 'team-first' attitude. We want to be champions on the court and to develop our spirituality and academics off of it. I truly believe that our returning players when combined with our incoming class will set a high standard of excellence for the program for years to come. With a team GPA this past spring over 3.4 for our returning roster, we want to be Team Academic All-American in 2014-2015 as well as attempt to organize a program mission trip for the summer of 2015. We do have a five year plan for the program, but we wanted to reach some lofty goals very early on the process and though we have lots of hard work still ahead, some things don't need to wait."