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Photo by Sam Harrel

It will be about 20 months before Southern Utah University plays a volleyball match.

It’s the perfect program for Cashaana Renfro, as the West Valley High School senior signed a National Letter of Intent on Tuesday afternoon with the school that’s reviving the sport after a 20-year absence.

“It seemed like a really unique opportunity,” the 6-foot middle blocker said during the signing in an administration office at West Valley.

Southern Utah’s administration dropped volleyball after the 1988-89 school year. The Thunderbirds were successful in NAIA, placing fourth in the 1981 national tournament and capturing seven straight Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference titles from 1976-83.

Southern Utah’s revival is set for the 2009 season and the Thunderbirds of Cedar City, Utah, will play in the NCAA Division I Summit League.

Debby Baker was hired in February as the Southern Utah head coach after spending the past six seasons as an assistant coach and volleyball operations director for New Mexico State, which also recruited Renfro.

“It’s like everyone is new, everyone will redshirt and it’s like everyone has an equal opportunity,” Renfro said, as she was joined at a table by her parents John and Carol; sister Karole, a West Valley junior, and brother John, a freshman at the school.

Renfro and her family sent tapes of her matches to many schools and several D-I programs, such as Gonzaga, Oregon State, Boise State, Penn State and Michigan State, expressed interest in the 18-year-old. She also visited New Mexico State in January.

“There was word of mouth, too,” West Valley head coach Matt Steffes said of the interest Renfro attracted.

Renfro is the sixth player in Steffes’ 25-year career as the Wolfpack head coach to sign a D-I letter.

Her front court play helped West Valley capture the Mid Alaska Conference title and place seventh at the Class 4A state tournament last season. She led the Wolfpack with 94 total blocks and was second in kills with 166.

She was the team’s second-leading blocker (59) and third-leading hitter (121 kills) in her junior season, when West Valley won the conference title and took sixth at state.

“She has height, she’s aggressive and she has a great attitude,” Steffes said. “She’s just kind of at the top of her game right now and she’s got so much more room to go. All she needs is just a little bit more of a push.”

Renfro expects to get a push at Southern Utah, which she chose because it will be a new program and she’ll see greater to see playing time with there than at New Mexico.

“That was pretty important,’’ Renfro said of playing as a freshman. “I don’t want to sit out and they (Southern Utah coaches) said they were going to build their team around the middle.’’

She welcomes the chance to play a critical role in Southern Utah’s return to varsity volleyball.

“It will be a challenge and it will be fun, and I’ll be up to it,” said Renfro, who visited the campus in April.

Because the Thunderbirds don’t play for another season, Renfro can fine-tune her skills in the meantime. She also plans to play club volleyball this summer with the Midnight Sun of Anchorage.

“There’s a lot I need to work on, especially coming from a small town,” she said. “I need to pretty much work on everything; there’s room for improvement everywhere.”

Renfro did get a taste of D-I competition as she participated in an open gym with New Mexico State players during her visit.

“It was faster (than high school),” she said, “but I think I’m ready for that next level.”

She had a block against the Aggies players, too.

“That felt good,” she said.