Editor’s note: The Star’s Zack Rosenblatt is counting down the 50 best athletes on the UA campus right now, with help from athletes, coaches and those close to the program.
No. 43: Elizabeth Shelton
The details: Shelton is an athletic, 6-foot-2-inch outside hitter from Desert High School on the Edwards Air Force Base near Rosamond, California. Shelton redshirted her freshman season partly due to injury and partly to gain more experience before beginning her playing career at Arizona. Shelton was a standout in basketball and track in high school and didn’t even start playing volleyball until her junior year. Shelton picked the Wildcats over Air Force, San Francisco and UC Riverside.
“She’s really young in terms of her volleyball age,” said UA coach Dave Rubio.
The numbers: Shelton redshirted as a freshman at Arizona, but put up stellar numbers as a senior at Desert, recording 446 kills with 71 assists and 103 total blocks.
The value: Two of Arizona’s five seniors from 2016 are gone, including the Wildcats most productive outside hitter in Kalei Mau, an All-American, and Katarina Pilepic, an outside hitter who finished third on the team with 2.32 kills per set. Shelton might not be expected to play as big of a role as Kendra Dahlke or Tyler Spriggs on the outside, but Shelton’s raw talent will likely push her into significant playing time at some point.
Why Shelton? Rubio has said in the past that Shelton has the “chance to be one of the top players to ever put on a UA volleyball uniform,” high praise from the longtime coach.
“It’s going to take — assuming she’s healthy — it’s going to take some time to develop the skillset needed for the position she plays,” Rubio said. “She had a terrific, outstanding spring. The question for her coming into the fall is where she is in the evolution of her skills and her development of skills.”
Proof she’s good: Even with limited experience, Shelton finished her career one of the most lauded athletes in program history. She was named an Under Armour AVCA All-American as a senior, an all-conference first-teamer and helped Desert to a 28-3 record and a league title as a senior. Shelton has already had her jersey retired, and also helped the school’s basketball team to a state championship. Shelton is also impressive academically — she was the class valedictorian and is majoring in neuroscience with the hope to become a cognitive neuroscientist or molecular geneticist.
What Shelton can accomplish: Shelton could be a serious candidate for Pac-12 All-Freshman honors, though that will largely depend on how she’s doing health-wise in the fall and how much playing time Rubio is prepared to give her in the early going.
“You can’t put the cart in front of the horse,” Rubio said. “She’s gotta have the skills and the brain to be able to understand how the game plays at this level.”
Coachspeak: “She’s so athletic and she’s an alpha female. She’s someone who is just so tough mentally and a great competitor. Those are the kinds of kids you can really win big with.” — Rubio
She said it: “I chose Arizona because of the great academic program and support system provided for the student-athletes. I hope to bring positive energy to the Arizona volleyball program.” — Shelton, after signing with Arizona in 2015
