As far as summer high school volleyball pick-up games go, last Tuesday's game inside the River Falls Public Montessori's gym had a different feeling to it. While the knee pads are sliding up over the calves and the ponytails are being rubber-banded, normal pre-pick-up game chatter for the River Falls Wildcat girls might include Brooke Dusek's latest Tik Tok. It would also likely include the latest summertime high school dating drama discussions.

Not this day.

River Falls volleyball royalty was in the gym this hot humid July day and the current crop of Wildcats were in cool mode acting 10 years their senior with their visitor.

"I'm grateful to be able to poke my head in here and play a little bit with the girls," said River Falls class of 2020 grad Emily Banitt. "They’re playing faster than we played in high school. I haven't seen them play in person in a long time. I told Brooke (Dusek) that her out of system hitting is going to take her so far."

"I love when we actually get them (Wildcat volleyball alums) back in town and they want to be here in the gym," said Head Coach Sara Kealy.

Kealy has had 19 of her players graduate to play college volleyball in the last eight years alone, none receiving more accolades than Banitt. 

The 5'10" outside hitter with a Spiderman-like vertical leap helped the Wildcats to four straight WIAA state tournaments in volleyball and earned all-state honors her senior season. She was named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference Freshman Team her first season at Loyola University Chicago and when the school jumped to the Atlantic 10 Conference in 2022, Banitt garnered all-conference honors her junior and senior years. Banitt had a fifth year of eligibility due to the 2020 Covid season, and she was named first-team all-conference at the College of Charleston, where she also played beach volleyball in the spring.

"Beach volleyball was so fun," said Banitt. "I wish I would've played beach all four years. The transition was a little confusing at first, but it was easy to pick it up once you got the hang of it."

Banitt finished her college indoor career with 1,367 kills.

"Emily understands the game so well because of the way she sees the court," said Kealy. "She's not robotic out there. It's fluidity and she takes what the defense gives her."

When the Wildcat volleyball team finished state runner-up in 2017, Banitt was a sophomore starter. The majority of the current Wildcat team was in third or fourth grade.

"Amelie (Pankonin) was my ball girl," said Banitt realizing the passage of time.

"Do you think it was a coincidence I put Amelie with you?" Kealy asked Banitt rhetorically. "No, I put her with you because I wanted her to be you."

Pankonin is on the right track. She recently received national recognition playing at the AAU Junior National Tournament in Orlando in June for Northern Lights Volleyball Club. Pankonin has already received a plethora of Division 1 offers to date.

Banitt is polite and cordial off the court, but on it, she has the intensity of a cornered honey badger.

"I was trying to show Brooke (Dusek) and Amelie (Pankonin) how to push the girls on both sides of the net in practice," said Banitt. "That makes the team better."

Banitt is smart enough to know how the younger girls look up to her and humble enough to care.

"I looked up to Izzy Barr when I was younger," said Banitt. "Finding the players that were always competing hard in the gym and giving it their all was the player that we looked up to and wanted to be. It touches my heart because I want to be a good example of what a good teammate looks like not only in skill but hyping up teammates."

Banitt, who has a degree in exercise science from Loyola University Chicago and an MBA from the College of Charleston, wasn’t just playing for recreation; she's punching the workout time clock of her own. Banitt is now the second former Wildcat volleyball player to sign a professional contract. She’ll be leaving on Aug. 17 to play in Zagreb, Croatia. Zagreb is the capital city in Croatia, with a metro area population of about one million people. Former Wildcat middle blocker Marissa Stockman played in France last year and will be playing in Greece this year.

"My college coach said if there's any itch to do it, just try it for a year," said Banitt. "I'm going to try it and see what happens."

"To be able to say she plays professionally is amazing," said Kealy.

"The volleyball world has just blown up the last couple years," said Banitt about all the different professional volleyball opportunities for women.  

"Women's sports, in general, have taken off," said Kealy. "I obviously want to teach skills and goal setting and how to show up on time and responsibility, but volleyball is a game Emily can play her entire life."

"Not only has Sara (Kealy) taught us volleyball skills but so many life skills, too," said Banitt. "I learned those at a young age because of Sara. She not only coached us for volleyball, but she coached us how to be better people."

Banitt brought her winning ways to the Montessori gym on a hot Tuesday in July for some pick-up volleyball. Her former ball girls weren't little ball girls anymore. They were playing fast, crushing the ball, and even blocking Banitt once or twice. One errant shot ricocheted off senior Addy Nesbitt's shoe and smacked Banitt on the side of the face as Coach Kealy yelled the score, "8-7!"

Every brow in the gym lifted with a collective nervous gasp from the current Wildcats as their childhood heroine was welcomed back with a volleyball to the face and somehow, at that moment, seemed like a regular human. 

"Oh, it’s totally fine," said Banitt smiling and shaking her head. "That’s volleyball."

Every point the rest of the set came courtesy of Emily Banitt.

"Did you see her cross-court side hit?" whispered one current Wildcat player.

"That was so sick," said another girl in response.

And the hierarchy of Wildcat volleyball royalty was quickly restored to its rightful place.