Haley Holz’s unstoppable serve has helped lead Palatine to a 14-9 season so far. If you’re anywhere near the gym during a varsity game, you know exactly when Holz is serving. This is partly because she throws the ball so high you’d think she will hit the ceiling, though she never has. Her serves come with tons of cheering, as most of her serves are aces.

“Haley’s serve is a game changer for us,” Varsity Coach Dan Gavin said. “We talk a lot about as a team having a willingness to earn points in different ways, almost all of those are team driven. Serving is one that is individualized, so her ability to dominate in that area takes a lot of pressure off of other girls.”

Holz started working on her jump float serve in 7th grade club volleyball. She worked on perfecting her serve through those two years until she started working on her jump topspin serve during her freshman year at PHS. It was during that year that she started throwing the ball over 20 feet into the air when she serves.

“For a jump topspin serve, the toss has to be decently high since it’s like hitting [the ball for a hit],” Holz said. “The harder part of jump serving is the control. You need to have a good toss that’s in front of you and good hand contact.”

Luckily for PHS, Haley has the whole thing figured out.

Having been playing since just 10 years old, Holz has lots of experience. Through her club team and the high school volleyball program, she has grown both as a person and a player. With her serves alone, she has broken the school record for most aces.

“Haley’s serves dominate and take a lot of pressure off serve receive,” Libero Jillian Smith said. “They’re very tough to defend and cause a lot of teams to be out of system. It’s good to practice with Haley’s serves because they’re hard and prepare us for facing other teams.”

Holz’s serves have helped the team come back when they are down, finish tied games, and pull ahead of the other teams. She has gone on crazy serve streaks with most of them being aces. Just a few games ago, she went on a 9 point streak leading Palatine to a win.

If you’d like to see Haley’s amazing serves for yourself, come to their next home game tonight at 6pm in the main gym and support the Varsity team against Barrington.