Merced High volleyball star will carry on family legacy at this Pac-12 school
Merced High senior Ellie Hamm grew up a Cal-Berkeley fan. Her father played water polo there. She also had three aunts and an uncle play water polo at Cal.
Hamm is going to continue the family legacy, but in a different sport, after she recently verbally committed to play volleyball at Cal.
“It’s definitely a family thing,” Hamm said. “I think I’m the tenth person in my family to go to Cal and the seventh person in my family to play a sport there. It’s always been my dream school.”
Hamm’s decision won’t be official until National Signing Day in November, when she signs her national letter of intent.
Hamm started emailing the volleyball coaches at Cal when she was in eighth grade. By the time she was a freshman, Cal coaches started coming to her club games to watch her play.
Cal offered her a scholarship a couple months ago.
“It was definitely a tough decision,” she said. “I had talked to some other schools. Then one night, I just got to thinking, there’s no other place I’d want to go. The next day I called the (Cal) head coach and said, ‘I’m in.’”
The 6-foot-4 middleblocker had also drawn interest from the University of Tennessee and Campbell University in North Carolina.
Hamm was a first-team all-Central California Conference selection the past two years for the Bears.
“Everyone always says you’re lucky you have Ellie, she hits the ball so hard,” said Merced coach Patricia Flanagan. “What they don’t see is behind the scenes. Ellie is such a sweetie. She alway says hi, she’s respectful, honest, she’s always asking questions and she’s always at practice.
“I enjoy coaching that part of her than just the talent on the court.”
Hamm was poised to have a big season for her club team Rage out of Ripon this past spring before the coronavirus pandemic forced almost all of her tournaments to be canceled.
“This was the year I thought I would get noticed which would open up all these offers and opportunities,” Hamm said. “Two weeks after our first tournament everything shut down. I was bummed and stressed because I didn’t know what I could do.”
After making her decision to attend Cal, the stress about her future has disappeared. Hamm is leaning toward majoring in business. She finished her junior year at Merced High with a 4.4 GPA.
“I know I’m going to play volleyball in college,” Hamm said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but I know I don’t have to stress about where I’m going to go to school anymore. It feels really good.”
This story was originally published July 25, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
