Mihir Sinhasan is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Sunrise Mountain High School for AZPreps365.com

It was 20 minutes before the Sunrise Mountain Mustangs hosted the Ironwood Eagles in a 5A Top 20 matchup earlier this month.

The home crowd rose to its feet as the song “Bring Em Out” by T.I. played over the speakers and the Mustangs took the court for warmups.

Leading the Mustangs onto the court, holding a flag with the school’s name and logo on it, was senior outside hitter Emily Pruitt.

Pruitt, who is one of Sunrise Mountain’s six seniors, is known for her presence on the court. Standing at 6 feet, 1 inch tall, the four-year varsity player has the attacking talent to help the Mustangs (13-2, 10-0 in 5A Northwest) make the state finals and win the 5A title after losing in the state semifinals last year.

Overall, Pruitt has logged 293 kills this year, which is the most in 5A Northwest and sixth in 5A.

“I’m a little bit aggressive, so I like to just bang the ball [at the net],” said Pruitt, who has led Sunrise Mountain in kills the past two seasons. “I’m going up with a mindset of, like, no one is getting this ball. I’m 10-footing it. I don’t know, I just try to go crazy with it.”

Pruitt comes from an athletic family. Her mother, Jody, played softball for the University of Arizona. She was a two-time All-American with the Wildcats and is now the softball coach at Sunrise Mountain. Her father, Don, played professional baseball. He was a pitcher for various Minor League Baseball teams affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers.

While she played softball, basketball, and soccer growing up, Pruitt fell in love with volleyball. Like her parents, she will play at the next level: She committed to University of Colorado-Colorado Springs for volleyball.

Pruitt said she views the commitment as an accomplishment of her hard work.

“I’ve been working since I was 12, since I started playing club [volleyball],” Pruitt said. “I’ve been working to get to this point. I’m proud of myself that I have got to this point and worked hard enough to get there.”

While head coach Brandi Jans said she will miss Pruitt when the UCCS commit leaves, she said she is grateful to have a player like Pruitt on her squad.

“She is a powerhouse,” Jans said. “Honestly, [she] is so smart. She makes good decisions. She can see when that block is closed or open and where to put it. Just a great player overall and her passing is solid right now, and that’s what we need it to be.”

Along with her talent, Pruitt also has had an impact to lead her teammates. This includes fellow outside hitter sophomore Addison Wiemann, who has logged the second most kills on the team.

“She’s very encouraging,” Wiemann said. “She makes sure that everybody gets credit where credit is due. She makes sure that we are all high energy, all the time. And she really pushes us to be better teammates to each other.”

Pruitt and the Mustangs have two games remaining in the regular season, as they look to win their region for the fourth consecutive year.