By Chuck Licata / Big Daddy Media
Allen fourth-year senior pin player Kennedy Clayton is videotaped on Instagram explaining her volleyball team’s approach to their team motto, “Built Different.” https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNJNQ17tO7b/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Part of Clayton’s explanation: “(It’s about) the way we work, the way we support each other and the way we refuse to settle.” Considering the Eagles of Stephanie Poole are off to a high-flying 8-1 start and just went 4-0 to win the Championship Match of the Battle for the Rock tournament this weekend, the Eagles’ players showed they firmly live by those words.
The Eagles pounded out a wins over McKinney Boyd and three teams who should be state ranked – Flower Mound and Lovejoy, then Southlake Carroll in the tourney final. Poole’s crew beat Leslie Jackson’s Lady Dragons, 3-1, in a more competitive than the final score indicated. Allen won 26-24 and 25-23 before dropping the third set, 26-24. But they poured it on in the fourth set, jumping out to an 8-3 lead and never looking back in clinching the tourney trophy, 25-11.
And while the athleticism of the players on Allen’s roster is – to say the VERY least – amazing, an old guy like me (I’ve been covering high school volleyball since 1986, which is longer than most of you reading this have been alive) remembers one of those legendary Texas high school volleyball teams of which the Eagles draw a parallel.
Enter the 2017 Rouse Raiders. Jacob Thompson’s team was loaded with talent. Those Raiders won their first 10 matches, then won a breathtaking 34 matches in a row before falling to Prosper in the Class 5A state final that will forever be remembered as the “Cierra Hecht Injury/Comeback” match.
Those Raiders, who were ranked #1 in the country for most of the season, had a roster full of athletic talent that included all-state MVP senior e’lan McCall, senior power hitters Ava Bell and Dani Cole, all-around sophomore specialist Grayson Schirpik and a stellar sophomore libero Reilly Heinrich. Senior setter Maddie Sheehan dished out a mind-blowing 1,456 assists to that lineup. The Raiders had a bench full of talent, including senior Katy Northcut and junior Mackenzie Wells.
That team remains one of the best ever to line up on a volleyball court.
The 2025 Allen Eagles go a long way in matching up with that Rouse talent. Sophomore Maya Ogbogu (6-foot) hits, plays defense and blocks as well as McCall, at this point. Sophomore Olivia Kitur (6-0) resembles the talent of either Bell or Cole, and 6-foot junior Gaby Wenger can rifle down kills. Yet ANOTHER sophomore – 6-1 Katie Wawersich – not only has the all-around talent resembling that of Schirpik (who played libero in college), but actually hits and tips a little better.
Allen senior libero Campbell Sheffield has the talent to compare to Heinrich, who continued her college career at Texas.
Now, let’s temper the expectations for a second. That Rouse squad carved out a 50-4 overall record in 2017 and were ranked #1 in the country up until their state final loss. As Poole herself will tell, let’s take this season one match at a time. But, the talent of that 2017 Raiders’ squad is certainly reflected by this group of Allen Eagles.”
In the win over Southlake Carroll, Ogbogu blasted 18 kills and assisted in four blocks (we didn’t keep dig or assists stats). Her court presence alone was a factor for the Eagles. Kitur slammed 12 kills and assisted in two blocks; Wenger tallied eight kills and served two aces; Wawersich hammered nine kills, had a solo block; Crayton added six kills and an ace; freshman Sayge Chandler assisted on two blocks and had two kills; and, freshman Soleil Rhodes chipped in with two kills and two block-assists.
“I told them, this is the match we want – iron sharpens iron,” Poole said about her team’s victory. “That was a nice team win. Our physical presence at the net was incredible; we have a number of younger players that make a difference. We were very challenged by Southlake Carroll.
“We’re blending really good talent and athleticism; and the competitive drive they have inside of each of them is taking us to great levels right now. We think we have it all to make a good run this year, and we’ll take it one match at a time.”
