Fueled by passion and personality, Lone Peak’s Zoey Burgess named 2023 Deseret News Ms. Volleyball
Zoey Burgess checks all the boxes for an elite volleyball player. She’s tall, works extremely hard and has great genes as both her parents were college athletes.
For Burgess, It’s all the non-volleyball boxes that she checks — ones that seemingly don’t matter on the court — that makes her a one-of-a-kind leader that’s allowed Lone Peak to absolutely thrive during her four years at the program.
She’s goofy and quirky in the best way possible. She’s the type individual who will lead her team in the school song in opera format. When her rivals are blasting rock music, she’ll start singing a children’s song. It’s just the quirky nature her brain works, and she doesn’t shy away from bringing it to the court every day.
“I know sometimes it might bother other coaches, but I actually love that she brought her personality to our team. It allowed other people to be themselves as well and feel comfortable in their own skin in our gym and still be highly competitive,” said Lone Peak coach Paula Jardine. “If the best player on our team can act like that and still play well, that gave the other people permission, like ‘maybe I can act how I am and still reach that level.’”
Related
Her free spirit not only brought out the best in her teammates, but herself as well.
“When I am having my most fun that’s probably when you’ll get the best volleyball out of me,” said Burgess, the 6-foot-2 senior who signed with nationally ranked University of Kansas.
Over her high school career, Burgess figured out the fine line between quirky and focus, and the combination made her the state’s most lethal player on the court as she’s been named the 2023 Deseret News Ms. Volleyball recipient, the 17th in the history of the award.
The middle blocker led Lone Peak with 279 kills and 65 blocks while also hitting .419. While many middles don’t serve as they’re a defensively liability, Burgess served the past two seasons and this season finished with 45 aces and 97 digs.
Whatever she’s doing, she plays with college-level speed.
“That speed with how she plays the game is pretty awesome in high school, there’s not many high school players who can transition off that fast and get on that fast and hit the ball hard,” said Jardine. “We like running the middle in transition and Zoey makes that happen. She makes herself available offensively every ball and that is powerful because it keeps the block on the other side honest, it isolates our pins.”
Past Deseret News
Ms. Volleyball winners
2022 — Jordyn Harvey, Bountiful
2021 — Hailee Garcia, Syracuse
2020 — Lauren Jardine, Lone Peak
2019 — Mia Wesley, Mountain View
2018 — Tasia Farmer, Lone Peak
2017 — Heather Gneiting, P. Grove
2016 — Dani Barton, Brighton
2015 — Jaiden Farr, Morgan
2014 — Crash Parker, Snow Canyon
2013 — Eliza Katoa, Layton
2012 — Kizzy Willey, Lone Peak
2011 — Bailey Farris, Morgan
2010 — Ashlan Rogers, Lone Peak
2009 — Lori Mendenhall, Brighton
2008 — Brooke McAlister, P. Grove
2007 — Lacey Laycock, Lone Peak
During her high school career, she never experienced a state tournament loss as Lone Peak went 16-0 and won four 6A state championships. She played sparingly in varsity as a freshman and then had a notable uptick in playing time as a sophomore. Burgess credits those two “development” years with not only preparing her for the past two dominant seasons in high school but also her future at the college level.
She said watching players like Lauren Jardine and KJ Burgess in practice every day helped prepare her for the level and speed required of her.
“They helped me understand where the college level was, and the standard I needed,” said Burgess, who rose to that level without every sacrificing her goofy approach.
As long as Burgess can remember, she wanted to earn a college scholarship. Her dad Chris Burgess played college basketball at Duke and then Utah, and her mom Lesa Zollinger played soccer at Utah.
Athletics were never pushed on Burgess by her parents, but it was always something she aspired to. “Since both my players played in college, my wish as a kid was I wanted to get a scholarship somewhere,” she said.
Back then she didn’t care which sport she’d play, but by eighth grade it was clear volleyball was her passion and she decided to stop playing basketball.
When college coaches first started taking an interest in Burgess, she said it was the Kansas coaches that always seemed to show the most genuine interest. It wasn’t until she took her official visit to Lawrence, Kansas, to experience the culture within the program firsthand that she believe she might become a Jayhawk. It was never her dream school, and even though she had Kansas in her top five once recruiting got serious, it was never in her top three.
“The coaches wanted me so bad, and I quickly bonded with all the girls. It was really easy to make friends,” said Burgess in recounting that life-changing recruiting weekend.
College volleyball is played significantly faster than the level in high school, but Lone Peak is a program that tries to play a fast game and Jardine is confident Burgess can transition quickly to the increased speed. Burgess will also have the entire spring to adjust to the college level as she’s graduating early from Lone Peak this December to enroll at Kansas in January.
Jardine has no doubt Burgess will excel, and do so quickly after seeing her emotional resilience strengthen over the past four years.
“It’s hard to play in a program that is as storied as this, it’s difficult because when you walk on the court, especially if you’re on the varsity court and we gave her some time as a freshman, there is an expectation there and that’s hard to manage. And I’ve seen her over the years grow and develop her emotional resilience,” said Jardine.
It allowed her to develop into a tremendous — and at times quirky — leader both on and off the court that allowed her to achieve her dreams on her own goofy terms.
