Max Zepeda is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Desert Mountain High School for AZPreps365.com

High school athletics has always had its fair share of exciting personalities, especially with its level of celebrity that sometimes lingers around a few lucky campuses.

From the James family in California to the Harrison family in Pennsylvania, numerous recent examples of well-known athletes have children in high school looking to upstage their careers as the new generation. The fanfare, publicity, and sometimes finances it can bring to a school can heavily influence the attention towards the sport and the school affected.

Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale is in the midst of a moment like this in volleyball with freshman outsider hitter Nylah Bibby. That last name may sound familiar to people in the sports world, but more on that later.

After three years as a member of the Arizona Storm Elite club program, Bibby arrived on campus with lots of fanfare for both her family name and her incredible talent on the court. However, coaches at Desert Mountain needed to see the talent for themselves when welcoming her. When they did, it became clear she was not just any freshman.

“We had to put eyes on [Bibby] before we made any decisions,” assistant coach Kileigh Swinton said. “But I mean, once she stepped foot in our gym, we knew that she had no other place other than varsity.”

She quickly fit in, as Bibby would have a stellar freshman season in all facets, making herself known as a force in the Arizona high school volleyball landscape.

In her first season, she finished fourth in the 5A Northeast Valley in kills with 232 and was third in kills per set, averaging 2.8 a set. Bibby was also second and first in those categories amongst all freshmen across the 5A Conference, where she was also third amongst all freshmen in hitting percentage.

However, even with her incredible numbers on the court, Bibby’s personality has her aspiring for higher and larger goals, which her coaching staff, led by head coach Dana Achtzehn, expects out of her in 2024.

“She knows the expectations and kind of what the bar is and what we want the bar to be. So I think that definitely coming into next season,” Achtzehn said. “And yeah, she's definitely going to ramp it up…I don't want to say I expect more of her, but just kind of expect her to step into a leadership role.”

Nevertheless, the story surrounding Bibby from the outset of her entering the Desert Mountain program was her profound sports connections inside her own family.

She is the youngest daughter of Mike Bibby, the basketball star who was the second pick of the 1998 NBA Draft and went on to play for six franchises over a 14-year career, all of which was successive to him winning a National Championship with the University of Arizona in 1997. Her grandfather, Henry Bibby, is also a college basketball legend who won three straight national titles at UCLA in the heart of the early 70’s dynasty led by legendary coach John Wooden. He would also win an NBA title as a rookie in 1973 after being drafted by the New York Knicks in the fourth round.

However, despite all that family history, the pressure has never seemed to overwhelm Nylah throughout her time on campus. In many ways, it motivates her to exceed the expectations set on her shoulders – an undying competitive mentality that many of her current teammates have embraced.

“I think that she puts a lot of pressure on herself,” junior middle blocker Kaitlyn Millington said. “Because I know that she's the youngest sibling and all, you know, and she wants to do her family name well but she's a fierce competitor. So I think that it comes kind of natural for her because she's kind of lived in it her whole life.”

Nylah Bibby’s volleyball journey has just begun as she heads back to Arizona Storm this winter and spring to continue club competition. Still, the anticipation for her sophomore season will undoubtedly be felt on campus, with Desert Mountain coming off a season where they were eliminated in the AIA 5A Conference Round of 16 for the fourth time in five seasons.