THORNTON, Colo. --- Sierra Leopold took a bet on herself and on her burgeoning love for another sport when she shifted her focus in the gym from basketball to volleyball a few years ago. Boy was that a great decision.

Leopold had a strong start to her high school athletic career at Prospect Ridge Academy thanks to the key role she played on the Miners' girls basketball team. She appeared in 39 games between her freshman and sophomore seasons, earned a team MVP award after finishing third in Colorado with 4.8 blocks per game and helped the team win their first playoff game in several years with her 10-point, seven-block performance in the 2019 3A Metro District Tournament.

But Leopold also had a promising volleyball season during her sophomore year and joined a club team in Brighton that really stoked her passion for the game. Following a run to the State tournament and 123 kills with the Miners in 2018, Leopold locked in on volleyball and gave herself to specialized training with The Diff Volleyball club that honed her natural talent and increased her impact on the front row exponentially. 

As a junior, the middle blocker more than doubled her kill total to 265 with seven fewer errors and in seven fewer sets than she had the year prior. She posted the top hitting percentage in Colorado at 0.524 and channeled her basketball foundation by getting a ton of blocks, tabulating 71 solo blocks for a 52-block improvement over her sophomore year. 

Leopold's name naturally appeared all over the end of year recognitions for Colorado girls volleyball. She was named All-Metro League after leading all juniors in the league in the kills, and was also given All-Mile High Region and All-State recognition by BoCoPreps.com and CHSAANow.com, respectively. 

Moreover, Leopold collected Academic All-State honors because of her concurrent accomplishments in the classroom. She has been named to the Prospect Ridge Academy honor roll every year she's been at the school and plans to major in business marketing at Biola. Ideally, Leopold would love if her move to Southern California opened the door to work for Disney. And she's elated to join a university community that values the things she holds dear.

"I wanted to go to Biola because I love how much they value a balanced education alongside competitive sport programs," said Leopold. "I loved getting to see how family-oriented and open about the word of God all of the students, teachers, and coaches are, and I am so excited to have the opportunity to join this amazing community!"
 
Biola Volleyball will have student-athletes representing 10 different states when Sierra Leopold joins the roster in Fall 2021. More information on the rest of the student-athletes that will join her at Biola in 2021-22 can be found on the Committed Athletes page.