Next stop: Cal Lutheran.
After finishing up a stellar high school volleyball career and ending this academic chapter as Escalon High School’s Salutatorian for the Class of 2023, Gianna Bava is moving onward and upward.
The new EHS alum will take her talents to Cal Lutheran, where she will play collegiate volleyball for the Regals and continue her academic studies. She was joined by several Escalon varsity teammates for her recent Letter of Intent signing in the EHS main gym. She was part of the back-to-back Section title teams for the Lady Cougars the past two seasons. It was her kill, in fact, against Christian Brothers that sealed the D3 Section banner for Escalon following a five-set marathon match last November.
“It’s a smaller school in southern California,” Bava said of getting ready to take the next steps along her path at Cal Lutheran. “I’ve been playing volleyball since seventh grade so I always kind of knew that I wanted to play in college but as I started playing Club, I knew I really wanted to.”
With Club play for Rage out of Ripon and an incredible amount of success on the high school volleyball court for Escalon – not to mention an outstanding academic resumé – Bava said she is excited that her college plan is now in place.
“I went through the recruiting process for a few years,” she explained. “It’s a long process, for sure.”
She was able to visit the southern California university in October on an official recruiting trip and made the decision to commit a few months later.
Cal Lutheran is an NCAA Division III school, playing in the SCIAC, Southern California Interscholastic Athletic Conference, against other schools in the region.
The campus is in Thousand Oaks and Bava was impressed by everything she saw on her visit.
“The campus is beautiful, it’s so green, I went there and I fell in love with it,” she noted. “The location is perfect; I just love everything about it.”
She plans to study business, balancing classes with athletic responsibilities.
“There are so many resources; and I’m really excited to study business but also be able to play so I think just managing my time well and just being excited for it and doing my best to balance both, and just have fun with it,” she said of her approach.
As far as trading in the high school game for college, the EHS alum said there are inherent gifts in the sport she will continue to enjoy.
“Creating that bond with teammates; going from school, you have such a special bond with those girls because you go to school with them and then you go to Club and you meet all these new people and you make new relationships every year,” Bava said. “So being able to go to college and have a new team and make more new relationships again, I’m really excited for.”
Check in for her on the Cal Lutheran campus will be Aug. 18; her first day of classes is scheduled for Aug. 28.
Bava also plans to keep success in perspective, knowing that it doesn’t come easy.
“I think just to always work hard,” she said of one of the biggest lessons she has learned on the court so far. “This year, especially with our season, we put in so much work and it paid off. I think in college I just need to continue to work hard and have that drive to see that success in the future.”
