Zyonna Fellows was the first female athlete in Mount Tahoma High School’s history to earn a scholarship to play collegiately at a Pac-12 school, heading from Tacoma to Tucson, Arizona, in 2018 to play volleyball.

 

Not too bad for a self-proclaimed uncoordinated “baby giraffe.”

 

And her rise from the South Sound to University of Arizona stardom is what makes Fellows the Dick Hannula Female Amateur Athlete of the Year winner.

 

Her father, Antowan, hoped the 6-foot-4 Fellows would play basketball. But her ability to play well above the net put the local volleyball scene on instant notice.

 

She went on to lead the 3A Pierce County League in kills (237) and blocks (110) her senior year, earning a spot on The News Tribune’s All-Area volleyball team in 2017 and league MVP honors. And the Arizona senior middle blocker this past season led the Wildcats in block solos (16), block assists (97) and total blocks (113), finishing near the top of the Pac-12 in each as an experienced middle blocker.

 

But the highlight of her senior season came at the University of Washington, when she matched her career highs of eight blocks and seven block assists on her birthday in front of all her friends and family in Seattle.

 

“She’s one of the nicest, most caring, unselfish people that I’ve ever been around,” coach Dave Rubio told the Arizona Daily Star last year. “The nice thing about (Fellows) is that she’s really coming around as a player.”

 

Fellows recently announced she’d be returning for one more season with the Wildcats as a super senior, being granted an extra year of eligibility because of the 2020-21 season that was impacted by the COVID pandemic. She’s also majoring in social behavior and human understanding.

 

Her sophomore year was her breakout season. She had appeared in eight matches as a freshman, including three starts after injuries in front of her cleared a path, but in 2019 she started 20 matches, finishing second on the team in blocks (58) and adding 68 kills.

 

That earned her a more prominent role her junior season in which she led Arizona with 61 blocks and 56 block assists. She also had 102 kills, with a hitting percentage that was second-best on the team.

 

This past season she finished tied for seventh in the Pac-12 in block solos (16), eighth in block assists (97) and ninth in blocks per set (1.05).

 

“I want to be remembered as that goofy sister that you could always come to if you wanted to smile,” Fellows said in her senior tribute video. I’m always there for people and I’m always willing to give             help when needed. So, I just want to be remembered as passionate and goofy.” 

 

But she was at a crossroads after her freshman year at Mount Tahoma. She had been a dual-sport athlete, playing volleyball and basketball, but as her passion for volleyball grew, she debated whether to pursue it year-round and join a club volleyball program.

 

Her mother, Latanya Jones, played volleyball in high school, which was part of the reasoning for Fellows’ ultimate decision, even though her father had WNBA aspirations for Zyonna.

 

“As soon as I realized I was good at volleyball, basketball slowly started to go,” Fellows said. “My love for volleyball started to grow a little more and basketball just wasn’t where I wanted it to be.”

 

She started developing her untapped coordination, too.

 

“My freshman year (at Mount Tahoma) I was not good at volleyball,” she had told The News Tribune. “As coach says, I was like a baby giraffe.”

 

Now that giraffe is pretty fearsome.