MINOOKA — Stacey Perinar received her first collegiate volleyball letter when she 15 years old, playing club volleyball for UNO in Joliet.

The letter was from the University of Illinois. After that, the letters kept pouring in for the tall Minooka Community High School hitter.

Perinar said she ended up being recruited by 30-50 schools. She eventually committed to Eastern Michigan at the end of her junior season, and signed her letter of intent during a ceremony at MCHS earlier this week.

This season, Perinar showed why she’s going to play Division I volleyball next fall. The senior finished the season with 405 kills, 49 aces, 24 blocks and 162 digs for the Indians, who won their second straight regional title this season. Perinar has nearly 1,000 career kills despite playing middle blocker her first two years of high school.

For her efforts, Perinar is the 2011 Morris Daily Herald Girls Volleyball All-Area Most Valuable Player.

This season, Perinar had to help pick up for the loss of Dariyan Hopper, last season’s MDH All-Area MVP. Hopper is now at North Carolina State.

Perinar was one of a number of players that stepped up for Minooka.

“She was smarter, she was more confident. She was more of a leader on the court,” Indians coach Chris Hoelscher said. “I think what Stacey brings to any team that she’s been on is what she can do as a person. We had a sophomore, we had a freshman on our team this year, and Stacey helped them along, she gave them encouragement, she gave them pointers without being bossy.

“She made them feel important, and when a younger player’s on a varsity team sometimes they can be intimidated or feel that they belong, and Stacey made sure those kids feel like they belong, and she’s just a fun-loving kid.”

When it came time to decide where to play her college ball, Perinar narrowed down her decision to three schools — Eastern Michigan, Iowa and Michigan State, after going to each of their camps.

The Hawkeyes wanted Perinar to try out as a walk-on, while Eastern Michigan and Michigan State offered scholarships.

When she sat back and thought about everything, Perinar just felt that Eastern Michigan was the better fit.

“They said that I was in their top 10 picks in that time when I was at the camp,” Perinar said.

“That was good to talk to them and know where I was at in the recruiting process. Where as when I went to the University of Iowa and MSU, they didn’t really tell me much and I was just another person. EMU they really made me feel special, they really wanted me there.”

Eventually, the Eagles told Perinar she was their No. 1 target, which made her decision to attend Eastern Michigan that much easier.

“I was just so excited,” Perinar said. “I had to wait to think about it but I committed in October (2010) and I just loved it there.”

Perinar will arrive on Eastern Michigan’s campus in June, and prepare for her first season of Division I volleyball. That’s something that she’s always wanted to do ever since she got that first letter.

“I just didn’t know that I had the capability of playing in college,” she said. “I never watched a college game or anything like that. After I got that letter, I wanted to set goals to play Division I.”

Perinar says that the Eagles’ coaching staff has told her that she can make an impact right away.

“They just said that they can definitely see me having court time next year and that I’ll have a good contribution to the team,” Perinar said. “I really won’t know anything until I get to EMU, which I’m supposed to leave for summer classes at the end of June.

“I have to go work that camp and I have to do summer training and everything like that. After that I feel that everything will fall into place and I’ll know my place when I get there.”

Perinar will continue to play the outside hitter position in college. She knows that going up against the opposing block will be tougher in that level. However, that’s one of the main things she improved on this season.

“This year, definitely learned to become smarter with the ball and place the ball in certain spots where people are not,” Perinar said. “A few years ago I remember just hitting the ball as hard as I could, hoping it would land inside that court radius. I know you have to be smarter with the ball. ... For volleyball if you watch the game closely it’s all about placement and being smart with the ball and picking what you do with it.”