Bloomfield Hills – Marian High School Senior Rachel Charles was named 2009-10 Gatorade Michigan Volleyball Player of the Year by the Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE. 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 Rachel as Michigan’s best high school volleyball player. She is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Volleyball Player of the Year award, to be announced in late December.

The 5-foot-7 senior libero led the Mustangs to a 77-2 record and the Class A state championship this past season. A 2009 First Team All-State selection, Charles recorded 903 total digs, averaging 11.4 per match and also tallied 73 service aces. She reached double figures in digs in 40 of Marian High’s 79 matches, including 18 in the title-clinching match against Portage Central High on November 21.

Rachel has maintained a 3.56 GPA in the classroom. She has volunteered locally as a bible school counselor and as a youth volleyball coach.

“What makes Charles unique is her instinctive defensive ability, which has helped us reach the state finals three years in a row,” said Marian High Head Coach Irick Gardner. “Without her, I don’t know that we would have had a chance to win our first state title.”

Rachel has signed a National Letter of Intent to play volleyball on scholarship at Lehigh University beginning in the fall of 2010.

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 ESPN RISE and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Rachel is the first Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year award winnner in Marian's history. Congratulations to Rachel Charles, Coach Gardner and the whole Marian volleyball program on this marvelous achievement.

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