Huntley girls volleyball coach Karen Naymola saw a lot of good things in the second varsity season from Georgia Watson.

But what stood out the most to Naymola was the 6-foot-3 Watson’s performance in the biggest moments.

No moment was bigger than during the third set of last year’s Class 4A Dundee-Crown Supersectional against Barrington – a match that saw the Red Raiders’ season come to a heartbreaking end after the Fillies staved off three match points to deny Huntley its first state berth since 2001.

Watson, only a sophomore at the time, was the focal point of Huntley’s attack, with Naymola guessing 80% of the sets going her way in the third set. It was clear that the Raiders, a team loaded with more experienced players than Watson and NCAA Division I talents, wanted to feed Watson the ball as much as they could.

“Everybody who watched that supersectional saw Georgia completely take over,” Naymola said. “The game was on the line, and as a sophomore she was the one asking for the ball. When I watched her during that game, that was when it was like, ‘Whoa. This kid is going to go far.’ ”

Now everyone else is starting to notice.

Watson recently was ranked as the state’s No. 4 overall player in the Class of 2025 by PrepDig.com. The outside hitter also was invited to the USA Volleyball National Team Development Program July 12-17 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where she will be taught by elite coaches and compete against some of the country’s top prep players.

Players are selected to the development program by scouts, and the mission of the program is “to identify, recruit and accelerate the development of high-potential junior volleyball athletes for the purpose of achieving sustained international competitive excellence,” according to USAVolleyball.org.

“Everybody who watched that supersectional saw Georgia completely take over. The game was on the line, and as a sophomore she was the one asking for the ball.”

—  Karen Naymola, Huntley volleyball coach

Naymola has started receiving many calls from coaches interested to learn more about Watson, including Florida State, Illinois and Missouri. On June 15, the first day that coaches can start recruiting players, Watson was busy on the phone.

“I think this is going to be a great year for her,” Naymola said. “I know she’s getting a bunch of colleges calling her already, and I’ve gotten a bunch of schools calling about her. This is an exciting time for her. Hopefully she can make some decisions and kind of ease up on some of the pressure of the recruiting process.

“I sent her a text just teasing her like, ‘Get ready. Your phone’s gonna be blowing up, huh?’ And she said, ‘I’ve been on calls all morning.’ "

Watson was a Northwest Herald All-Area second-team selection last fall, recording 211 kills, 40 blocks and 127 digs. Only outside hitter Ally Panzloff, who will be a freshman and play volleyball at Brown University this year, had more kills for the Raiders.

Watson plays club on Mission Volleyball and skipped the 16U team this year, jumping straight to the 17U level. She plays with many area players, including Marian Central’s Ella Conlon and Jordan Orlos, Richmond-Burton’s Maggie Uhwat (Central Michigan), Johnsburg’s Delaney Stern and Crystal Lake South’s Gabby Wire (Wisconsin-Milwaukee).

Watson’s team qualified and is playing this week in the 2023 Girls Junior National Championship in Chicago.

“We’re super excited,” Watson said. “We’ve gone through some tough injuries as a team. I was hurt, and then Gabby Wire was hurt, but we’re all back on the court now, so we’re really excited and looking forward to be able to play again, the whole team together and to be healthy.”

Watson was sidelined for two months with a strained Achilles tendon but recently returned to the court. She is excited to be back and competing with players a year older than her.

“That was kind of one of my biggest draw to it,” Watson said. “I knew I would be playing with girls who are more mature and older than me and have been playing for a lot longer. It’s been really good competition. It’s made me a stronger player, so that was kind of one of the big reasons I wanted to make that jump.

“It was different at first, I was like, ‘Whoa, these girls are good.’ But I think as the season progressed, I was definitely keeping up … so I think it’s really cool to kind of see the way I’ve grown through that competition.”

Naymola noticed Watson mature a lot from her freshman to sophomore year.

“Her freshman year, she was a kid that kind of got down on herself,” Naymola said. “And you could see that expression on the court. I think as she became such a key part of our offense, she became so much more positive. And I think she knows that she’s somebody kids look to for that confidence on the court. They look to her for support.

“She’s one of the hardest working kids I ever had. She does so much stuff on her own with lifting and jump training.”

Watson said she learned a lot from last year’s senior class at Huntley, one that produced three D-I players, including Panzloff, Avary DeBlieck (Loyola) and Maggie Duyos (Austin Peay). The Raiders finished an area-best 32-7 and won their third straight sectional title.

“Those girls are some of the best girls I’ve ever played with and probably will ever play with,” Watson said. “It’s going to be a rough adjustment without them, but we have the players and we have the roster and we have the competitive drive to be able to get to where we were last year and surpass that.”

Watson has big plans.

“One of my current goals is I really want to play in college,” Watson said. “Ever since I started playing, that’s always been one of my goals to play in one of the Power Five conferences and make an impact in the program. And I do want go overseas and play professionally because that’s a really cool opportunity to travel the world while doing something you love.”