March 30, 2010, texassports.com
For the second-straight year, the Texas Volleyball team has welcomed its newest member a semester early.
Like Bailey Webster did last season, freshman setter Hannah Allison enrolled this January, and has already joined the Longhorns on the practice court. As already proven successful in football, early arrivals are becoming more common to the sport of volleyball.
Allison, the reigning Arkansas Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year, led Siloam Springs High School to four-straight state championships, and has trained for three years with USA Volleyball.
She recently talked with TexasSports.com about her transition to the Forty Acres.
When did you make the commitment to come to Texas? I decided in February of my junior year. That's when I committed. My top schools were Nebraska and Texas. I was deciding between those two for a period of four months before I committed. Because volleyball is so new where I'm from there weren't really strong programs anywhere close, but that wasn't really a factor. Any strong program would be pretty far away. I just found the best place for me. You can't beat what Texas has to offer. It just took me that long to realize what I wanted, and when I found what I wanted, Texas was it.
What do you mean volleyball is new to your area? They didn't have collegiate volleyball. In the last 20 years, they just started it in the state. We've only had club programs for the last 10 years. That definitely changes the atmosphere. It's come such a long way since then -- there have been dramatic improvements. But it's just not the kind of powerhouse that you have in California, Texas and the East Coast, also.
How did you start playing volleyball then? Through the Boys & Girls Club. I just did everything that my sister did, and she played volleyball. I hated it, but I kept playing. I thought it was boring because the ball just hit the floor all of the time when I was playing. When I got a little older it was more exciting. We grew up playing basketball so I've always played both, but I ended up loving volleyball.
How long have you been a setter? My whole life. My first coach that I ever had, she taught me everything about setting. She saw me when I was 12 and said 'You're going to be a setter.' I guess she just had an eye for it and she turned me into a setter.
How do you feel about getting to work with Salima Rockwell? I liked Texas before Salima. Salima got the job here when I was deciding, but that was kind of the last thing. Salima with her setting background -- it was just like 'OK, you can't turn this down!' It was very appealing. It pretty much made my decision at the end. She was what that tipped the scale.
What's the advantage of being here an entire semester before you start camp? Chemistry is important with everyone, your hitters in particular. So how does already being here help you going into a new season? It helps a lot. It's similar to a quarterback coming early. It's harder for a new quarterback to just step in and play. It's similar for a setter, like the quarterback needs to understand the system and have an idea about what's going on all the time. A lot of it is just having that chemistry and building those relationships between players on the floor because volleyball is such a team sport. In the spring it's a lot more laid back in the coaching and the practices. You have a lot more time to really learn the skills and the background of what goes on in the fall. The fall season is a product of all these things. I knew that it would benefit me a lot having a background before all the craziness of the fall, and the schedule, and starting school. I knew that having that background would give me a better chance at helping out the team in the fall.
What do you think your biggest challenge will be this year? Building relationships, but that is a huge challenge, because you have to build that trust with your teammates so that if you correct them, they can correct you. With a setter being a leader it's hard to come in and start bossing people around. Having this background will make it so much easier to build that trust, rather than just rushing into it and saying 'Well I'm here, I'm in charge.' This is a really healthy way to go into it, to each day build relationships and growing in that.
You were on your high school drumline. Do you feel there is any similarity or carryover in volleyball? I personally think there is because there is so much rhythm in volleyball. Between passing and setting and hitting there is a rhythm and when you get in a rhythm it's smooth and it's easy and it's not hectic when your play is in rhythm. You can feel that, you can tell when it's in rhythm or when it's kind of messed up.
