Kadena senior volleyball middle blocker Liza Young is taking her talents to Division II Northwood University in Midland, Mich. (Heather Mendoza/Special to Stripes)

KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa – Liza Young is taking her volleyball game to the next level.

The Kadena senior middle blocker has signed paperwork committing her to play on partial athletic scholarship for Northwood University, a Division II school in Midland, in her home state of Michigan.

“I’m happy I come in from somewhere small and build up so I can be big,” Young said.

She becomes the second Kadena student-athlete to commit to play their respective sport at the collegiate level. Tobin Kaiser, a senior lacrosse player, signed in late January to play for Chowan University, a D-II school in Murfreesboro, N.C.

Young played for a Panthers volleyball team that for the first time in 21 seasons beat island-rival Kubasaki in multiple matches and won the regular-season series. Young also competes in track and field for Kadena.

Having played most of her high school years overseas, Young said she was initially worried, as so many DODEA-Pacific student-athletes are, that she wouldn’t be looked upon favorably by stateside universities.

“That was me,” Young said. “But you have to have that ‘I can be that star.’ If you put in the work, you’ll get there. And I have so much work to put in.”

The Timberwolves play in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. They were 21-8 overall and 12-3 in conference play last fall.

While her high school playing days have come to an end, “this is just the prologue to the story,” Young said of moving on the next level.