FINDLAY — Liberty-Benton’s star athlete made the decision to stay home.

Rather than taking her volleyball talents to the University of Pittsburgh, the multi-sport machine Isabella “Izzy” Granger has chosen to remain in northwest Ohio. She de-committed from Pitt, and earlier in August, she made the decision to play at the University of Toledo.

“I made that decision [to go to Pitt] under different circumstances, and as I got older and learned what was more important to me, I wanted to stay closer to home and stay closer to family,” she told The Blade this week.

“I think that was a big deal for me.”

High school volleyball website Prep Dig Ohio ranks Granger as the state’s No. 9 prospect in the class of 2022.

She is a state champion in two sports. In her 2019 sophomore year Granger led the 28-2 Liberty-Benton volleyball team to a thrilling five-set victory over Independence in the Division III state championship game in Dayton. She posted a team-high 20 kills and had 17 digs in the title match.

“I think she had one of her best games in the state championship match,” Eagles coach Julie Todd recalled, “but the interesting thing about her freshman and sophomore years is that we had a lot of strong hitters, and the thing that stands out to me about Izzy is she does really, really well under pressure. She has the confidence that she’s going to make the big plays.”

This past June, Granger won the Division II state championship in the discus at the track and field state championships at Pickerington North High School. Her toss of 146 feet, 1 inch set a personal record and was four feet farther than the runner-up.

Granger was also the 2020 Blanchard Valley Conference volleyball player of the year.

Once her senior year is complete at Liberty-Benton, the All-Ohio player will focus on volleyball and a UT program that won three of its final five matches to close out the 2020-21 season and is 2-1 to begin its 2021-22 campaign. She will join fellow area products in Abby Ray (Bowling Green) and Payton Morman (St. Ursula) on the Toledo roster.

“I was able to talk with Toledo after I de-committed from Pitt, and it’s a different situation, and I can help them as an up-and-coming team that’s going to be on the radar,” Granger said, “They’re on their way, and I think they want me to come in and contribute and embrace that role and help turn them into a top team in the MAC.”

Granger, listed at 6-foot, has options to translate to either the back row or the front row at the college level.

“I would say I’m not always the biggest person on the floor, so I kind of step out there knowing that and that I won’t be able to power through everything,” she said. “It’s as important that I play the back row as well as I do the front row. I have to be able to do more than one thing. I didn’t start doing the back row until I was in about the eighth grade, but now I think I do enjoy the back row more than the front row.”

Granger broke Liberty-Benton’s career kills record in the first match of their recently started season, and she has totaled 1,041 through the first handful of sets in 2021. Her third kill of Liberty-Benton’s season-opening contest broke Carrigan Gray’s previous program record of 1,032. Granger has tallied 3.9 kills per set at a 49.2 percent rate in her career. Defensively, she has blocked 91 shots and has totaled 890 digs (3.3 digs per set). She has also posted a serve percentage at 93 percent for her career.

All of these solid statistics are a product of many things. but coach Todd noted Granger’s intelligence as her strong point.

“She’s almost a coach out there on the floor and is always talking and helping her teammates out,” Todd said. “She’s such a smart hitter. She’s so smart and sees the floor well … Her volleyball IQ is so high, and that’s what makes her such a great player.”

Izzy Granger is the daughter of A.J. Granger, the first to be selected as All-Blade boys basketball player of the year in 1996 and a national champion at Michigan State. Athletics runs in the family’s DNA, and it’s no surprise that Izzy was able to achieve a level of success that eclipses what her father did at the prep level.

“It’s exciting to see her be successful,” A.J. Granger said. “We’ve always taken the approach with her that you do what you love, and she naturally gravitated to the track and volleyball. If you’re going to do something, be good at it, and it’s been exciting to see her do two different sports and achieve at it.”

First Published August 28, 2021, 9:34 p.m.