SAN DIEGO – San Diego State's volleyball fortunes continue to trend sharply upward after head coach Brent Hilliard announced the signing of prep standout Amber Keen (Reno, Nev.) to a National Letter of Intent on Tuesday (April 4).
A 6-5 middle blocker who starred at Reno High School, Keen will be eligible to compete for the Aztecs in time for the 2023 campaign.
"We are very excited to welcome Amber to our Aztec family," Hilliard said. "She adds an amazing combination of size and power to our middle blocking position. We expect Amber to develop into an elite blocker as she fits our defensive schemes extremely well."
Keen brings a winning pedigree to The Mesa after propelling Reno High to the 2022 Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) Class 5A North Regional championship and a runner-up finish in the state tournament.
Following the Huskies' victory over Bishop Manogue High in the regional final, Keen was named the MaxPreps Player of the Match after leading all competitors with 16 kills on 21 attempts with only two errors for a .667 hitting percentage.
In the state semifinals against Bishop Gorman High, Keen hit .441 on a team-high 18 kills in 34 attempts against three errors while contributing a pair of solo blocks.
In addition to her prep squad, Keen played for the Northern Nevada Juniors Volleyball Club and competed in the USA Volleyball National Team Development Program. She was also nominated for Senior Player of the Year by VBRecruiter.com.
A highly prized recruit, Keen chose the Aztecs after drawing interest from such schools as Michigan State, Texas Tech, Nevada, New Mexico, New Mexico State and UC Davis.
Along with her accomplishments on the court, Keen excelled in the classroom as well, earning NIAA all-academic honors to go with Dean's List distinction from her high school. She is also a five-time Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Key Award winner.
With her signing, Keen becomes the fifth student-athlete to commit to the SDSU volleyball team for the 2023 season after high school standouts Natalie Hughes, Fatimah Hall and Campbell Hague inked National Letters of Intent last November, while Taylor Underwood transferred into the program this spring from DePaul University.
"As we round out our class of 2023 athletes one thing is for sure, Amber and the rest of these young women fit our team's culture beautifully," Hilliard concluded. "They have very high expectations inside the gym while maintaining great demeanors off the court."
San Diego State will be looking to build on a strong finish to the 2022 campaign when it won seven of its final 11 matches and advanced to the semifinals of the Mountain West Championship.