Avery Byrnes '26 Recruiting Profile

My name is Avery Byrnes, and I attend The Potomac School in McLean, Va in the class of 2026. 

I have been an athlete my entire life - playing lacrosse and basketball since I was six years old. I played on two different lacrosse travel teams for many years. Everything changed last year, when as a freshman, I played volleyball for my high school JV team and quickly fell in love with the sport. After the first week of practice I came home from school and told my parents that I wanted to play volleyball in college. 

After much consideration, I quit lacrosse to focus solely on volleyball. For my high school team I was the starting middle blocker and tried out for the same position last Fall for club. I played for East Coast Power DC - 15's Shock. Since it was my first year, I started off as third middle and quickly made my way to be a starting middle. I was so new to the sport, I absorbed everything they told me like a sponge. Our team worked really well together and won the American division in the North East Qualifier in Philadelphia, earning us a bid to Nationals in Chicago. 

This past season, I played both Middle Blocker and Right Side for my high school Varsity team. We took our team to the Virginia State tournament for the first time in the school's history. In the 2024 travel season I am playing MB for Virginia Elite 16's in the Open division and am looking forward to continuing to learn and improve while playing against tougher competitors.

Academically, I take all advanced classes at a very challenging school giving me a GPA of 3.6. I am a strong student who is always on top of my work and does not like to procrastinate. I feel I do a good job balancing school, sports and life. I am a hardworking person on and off the court which makes making me an ideal student athlete.