Berkeley's Burgess named nation's best in volleyball

Most athletes will say they don't care about honors and awards and they genuinely only care about winning.

Berkeley Prep senior Jordan Burgess cared equally about both.

Earlier this season, Burgess, a 6-foot-1 outside hitter, said one of her goals, along with winning her third state title at Berkeley, was to be named national player of the year. During a surprise assembly at her school's auditorium Tuesday, her goal was reached when she was recognized by Gatorade as its National Volleyball Player of the Year, becoming the first athlete from Florida to win the volleyball award.

She is now a finalist for Gatorade's National Female Athlete of the Year award, which will be presented at an afternoon ceremony before the ESPY Awards in July in Los Angeles.

"This (award) definitely goes above all of the other ones I've received," Burgess said. "I'm so honored. If you look at the people who have come before me, Dwight Howard and Kerri Walsh, it's amazing. I dreamed of being on this stage and receiving this award."

In December, Burgess, a first-team AVCA/Under-Armour All-American, was named Florida's Gatorade Player of the Year for the second straight year, making her a two-time finalist for the national honor.

Burgess helped Berkeley Prep win the Class 4A state title last season and was previously named the Florida Dairy Farmers' Miss Volleyball recipient for the second straight year. Burgess, who is headed to Stanford this fall, finished her senior season with 553 kills, 366 digs and 48 service aces despite playing the majority of the year with a broken pinky on her swinging hand. She was also named the 2010 ESPN Rise National Junior of the Year.

"It took a lot of hard work and practice every day and just staying focused more than anything, because we're in high school there are a lot of distractions," Burgess said.

Last summer, Burgess played with the USA Girls National Youth Team and competed in the 2011 USA Volleyball High Performance Championships in Arizona and won a gold medal with the Youth Team. She also traveled to Turkey to play in the FIVB Volleyball Girls' Youth World Championship, where her team placed ninth.

When PrepVolleyball.com released its 2011 preseason list of the top 150 seniors in the nation, Burgess was ranked at No. 3. She ended her career as Berkeley's all-time leader in kills with 1,792.