Janet Spelman heard music to her ears as she and her daughter, Hayley, walked into the Nevada Juniors’ volleyball club practice in Las Vegas.

"I’ll never forget the girls turned around and said, ‘Oh, my God, I wish I was as tall as you.’ I thought, ‘Oh, yeah, we have found the right place now. This is perfect.’ That’s exactly what I wanted to hear," Janet said.

Then a 6’1" eighth-grader, Hayley had found a new home as she turned heads.

Now closer to 6’7" than 6’6" and the tallest member of the U.S. Women’s Junior National Team that won gold in Mexico this past summer, Hayley, a Stanford recruit and one of the top three recruits in the Class of 2009 (as ranked by PrepVolleyball.com), has found volleyball to be her passion.

The 2008 Mizuno/Volleyball All-American first-team selection was bound to excel at any of a number of activities. As a youngster, she was a ballet dancer, with pointed-toe shoes and all the accoutrements.

"I really liked ballet and dance," she said. "I started when I was little and did a year of point. I did dance probably six years until about seventh grade. It’s time consuming, and you really have to dedicate yourself."

Her mother and father are avid tennis players, and Hayley followed in line. By the time she had reached high school, she had advanced to the state high school tennis tournament. As a freshman, Hayley finished as state runner-up at No. 1 doubles, and her team at Bonanza High School also took second.

But it was time for a change. Janet stands 6’1", and Hayley’s father, Stephen, tops out at 6’3".

"I was tall at her age, also," Janet said. "Mentally for girls, it can be tough. The first thing someone says when they see you is, ‘Wow, you’re tall.’ Yep, I’m tall. We needed a sport that could validate her height, something immediate where we could show her that it’s great to be tall. It’s hard to tell that to a 13-year-old who’s taller than her teachers."

Hayley, not afraid to take on a new challenge, liked the idea of giving volleyball a chance.

"I was pretty tall for my age, about 6’1", and my mom wanted me to get me into a tall sport," Hayley said. "She suggested volleyball. I said, ‘OK, sure,’ but I really didn’t know anything about it."

There was some trepidation as to whether or not Hayley would even enjoy the sport, much less develop a passion for it.

"We didn’t know if she’d like it, but it was mainly a way to get her around tall girls and get some community with tall girls. We had no idea it would take off like it did," Janet said. "Before that time, volleyball was not in the picture. We were looking forward to her playing tennis at Bonanza."

With the Nevada Juniors in the midst of their season, Hayley mostly just watched from the side as an eighth-grader. Footwork from her tennis game translated well onto the court, as did her arm swing, thanks to the similar motion between serves in both sports.

In the spring of her freshman year, Hayley dove headfirst into the club scene with the Nevada Juniors and tried out for the U.S. Girls Youth National Team that summer.

"I told her parents that she ought to consider playing club volleyball," said Bob Kelly, her coach at Durango High School in Las Vegas and founder of Nevada Juniors. "They looked at me like I was full of a lot of hot air. She had a commitment to play tennis at the time, but after she got about 60 letters from colleges after her freshman year of club volleyball, they believed me."

Spelman was selected for the U.S. A2 squad and headed to the camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Still awaiting her first high school varsity match, it was then that she decided that volleyball would be her lone sport.

In the meantime, she had become an exceptional student and won awards for her craft at school. A graphic design class that was offered at Durango High School but not at Bonanza led Hayley to apply for a spot in the class, and she was accepted. Alas, the transfer, via Nevada Interscholastic Athletic Association bylaws, prohibited her from playing varsity sports for a year. As a sophomore, she played on the JV team.

But varsity volleyball could wait. From computer graphic arts to pastels and watercolors and pen and ink, Hayley is equally adept at creating portraits and still-life artwork.

"We have three of her pieces, big huge ones, hanging in our house," Janet said.

Her artistry continued on the court in high school. In her first season of varsity action as a junior, Hayley was named the Gatorade state player of the year. She did it again as a senior.

Hayley’s wingspan is so omnipresent that Kelly dubbed her the "mother bird" when he once saw her rally her teammates in a huddle.

"Her arms extended around just about the whole circle," Kelly laughed. "It was a like a mother bird feeding the worm to the little ones, who were 5’8" or 5’9."

High drama on the club circuit led to dissolution of the Nevada Juniors team at mid-season in 2008. That’s when Hayley turned to Neil Mason, the director of the TCA club in Orange County, Calif., who had coached her previously at USA Volleyball camps. Hayley asked Mason about joining the club.

That’s not exactly hopping into the family truckster and making a Target run.

"It’s about four hours one way," she said. "I sleep, do homework, listen to my ipod, text. Mostly sleep, though."

That’s because Mrs. Spelman pulls out of the driveway with Hayley in tow before 6 a.m. on Saturdays, bound for Interstate 15 for well over 200 miles. They return to Las Vegas on Sunday night. Hayley, a right-side hitter, will play a full season with TCA, based in Fountain Valley, in 2009. Hayley stays with her teammates, while Janet bunks with family.

Mason got another look at Spelman at the USA Volleyball 2008 Junior Holiday Camp in Chula Vista, Calif.

"That’s where she made tremendous improvement," Mason said. "She started to flourish in the back row. The jump serve is one of the things I try to teach, and she worked hard on that. She has an international-level jump serve, with left-handed spin on the ball. I like to say she has Randy Johnson-type movement with her left arm."

She’s already getting geared up for college life at Stanford.

"I went to Stanford on an unofficial visit in my sophomore year," said Hayley, who carries a 4.4 weighted grade-point average. "We met (head coach John Dunning), and ever since it was my goal to go to Stanford."

Mason expects to see a changed player by the time the heat of June rolls around.

"As good as she is, the kid is so humble, almost to a fault," Mason said. "Her parents have done a good job of keeping her grounded. The first part of the club season, she’ll probably be nice and gentle. By the end of year, she’ll get fierce and mean, if you will, and go after people."

In just her fourth season on the club circuit, it’s game, set and match for this late bloomer.