All the way from Seattle a daughter of American Samoa is coming up with shining stars in high school volleyball, and her grandmother, Mrs Valasi Pi'o Gaisoa of Nuuuli was pleased to see the progress her granddaughter, Precious Atafua, along with her grandson, Marcus Atafua have made in both sports and academics, while attending Auburn Riverside High School in Seattle, Washington.

"Marcus is coming along with his interests in football and Precious, my little princess, has stamped great achievements in Volleyball here in her late high school years," was the comment made by the proud grandmother Valasi on facebook while she was on vacation visiting the children.

"It is heart warming to see my grandchildren do well in Volleyball, a sport that I am still a part of in American Samoa and has always been a family passion. Now the feeling of having one of the girls living it, it is satisfying enough for me to witness all this action, taking them to all their games, watching them play, they meant for me to be here for that," Gaisoa told Samoa News from Seattle.

Precious played Volleyball for Tafuna High School in her early high school years before she left with her family to settle in Seattle, Washington.

Mele Gaisoa, is aunty to Precious, and is the main person behind the U19 ASCC Girls Team had shared her mother’s feelings towards her niece’s achievement in the sport.

"Although I'm not her coach anymore, this aunt is the lead to straighten her up in her early years in the sport. You know what they say, teach the children all they need to know in the early years, and they'll never go wrong after that," she noted with a laugh.

Even now, Volleyball is the main game in the Gaisoa-Atafua clan, as it was in the early days when they “loved to hand around the ball at the Gaisoa residence” during their early years here on island.

Atafua commented in an interview with the Seattle Times, that she loved “playing volleyball at all times when we had a chance, let it be at home with my neighbors and cousins or at church youth meets — there is always a chance to play that game everywhere in Samoa as long as there is a ball and a little space for a field.”

She was a member of the Warriors JV team at Tafuna and later the Varsity Girls Volleyball Team 2010-12 for one semester, until she left home for Washington.

Now she plays for Auburn, and according to the Seattle Times, in the 3A State Championship, her team won with a 36-0 record, with Atafua earning her MVP award “after slamming the opposition with sixteen kills on sixteen digs in that match."

It is the first time Auburn Riverside Ravens got to play in the 3A State Championship.

At Saint Martin’s University where the 3A Statewide games were played, the scores were remarkable — with a 20-year-old school (Auburn Riverside) coming up on top with 3-0 stats for the Championship game. Set scores were 25-16, 25-23, 25-20, and the win had Precious Atafua written all over it.

To assist Atafua during her venture to be top seeded in volleyball is a great setter, teammate Carson Heilborn. It was reported that Heilborn dished out 33 assists and also made it into selection of the All Tournament Team with Atafua.

When asked how she felt after the win, Atafua told the Seattle Times, "Winning did not feel as good as I thought it would — it felt better!"