2022 All-Area volleyball Player of the Year: Allen’s time in sand benefits play on hardwood | Sports

MAHOMET — An evident Southern twang remains in Avery Allen’s voice.

It’s a callback to her time spent in Texas, where she was born and raised in Gainesville.

Allen moved with her family to Mahomet when her father, Mark, accepted a job as Illinois baseball’s pitching coach in 2019.

There are distinctly fewer Southern accents present in east central Illinois.

There also isn’t much in the way of a beach volleyball scene, save for the Eastern Illinois women’s program that finished its first Division I season earlier this year.

“It was pretty tough. It was kind of disappointing, because it’s the sport that I love and there wasn’t any of it around,” Allen said. “So I wasn’t sure what to do.”

Just like she’s been able to keep her accent, however, Allen also finds a way to maintain and bolster her beach volleyball abilities. And her passion for that sport translates to her volleyball exploits indoors, too.

That’s reflected in Allen’s cumulative performance for coach Stan Bergman’s M-S volleyball team this school year.

The News-Gazette’s 2022 All-Area volleyball Player of the Year logged 338 kills for a 32-win Bulldogs squad as a junior outside hitter, taking sets from seniors Caylee Folken and Maddie Gaede and junior Brianna DiFilippo. Allen also contributed 228 digs, 58 aces and 20 blocks.

The 5-foot-7 Allen boasted a 27.4 success percentage in attacking as opposed to a 12.9 percent penchant for errors on her 838 kill opportunities this year.

Allen now is M-S’ career leader in kills with 710, surpassing 2021 graduate and current Southern Illinois-Edwardsville volleyball player Ainsley Ranstead. One of Allen’s three campaigns was the condensed 2021 spring slate because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I just knew I’m kind of expected to continue to get better every single year,” Allen said, “so I just kind of took that in and did my very best.”

As successful as Allen is on the hardwood, she also recognizes her relative lack of height won’t make her nearly as appealing a hitting option to major colleges.

So she took that decision out of those coaches’ hands.

By verbally committing to the Boise State women’s beach volleyball program shortly after the Bulldogs’ 2022 season ended.

“Just because I’ve committed doesn’t mean I’ve made it and I’m done,” Allen said. “This is where it really starts, and I have to start getting better so I can actually have a spot on the team to play.”

Starting in the South

Allen inevitably wound up participating in volleyball at a fairly young age.

Her mother, Angela, coached athletes down in Texas. Allen’s older sister, Skylar, played both indoor and beach volleyball before Avery ever did.

“I’d come home from school and go to my mom’s practices and just play against the wall,” Avery Allen said. “I’ve always kind of played volleyball my whole life.”

To that point, Bergman views Allen as a “gym rat.”

“That’s where she hung out,” said Bergman, who counts Angela Allen among his M-S assistant coaches. “That’s her second home, basically. (But) right now, the sand court is her second home and indoor has maybe moved down to third position.”

Avery Allen said her sister began playing beach volleyball in Texas as a means of improving her skills for indoor volleyball.

“And then she realized she just loved beach more,” Allen said. Skylar Allen is a senior on the South Carolina women’s beach volleyball roster.

“And then I thought, ‘Hmm, that looks kind of fun,’” Avery Allen continued. “So I just tried it out (at age 14) and fell in love with it.”

Allen didn’t feel she was good at either version of volleyball in her younger years.

“My vertical was pretty terrible when I was younger, and then as soon as I started playing beach volleyball I just started to jump way higher,” Allen said. “The first thing I realized about (beach) was it was extremely hard, and I could barely move in the sand.”

With sufficient conditioning through her club beach volleyball team, Allen was able to find more of a groove in that sport — and in court volleyball. She also switched positions, from setter to outside hitter, when her leaping ability improved.

“A lot of running and jumping,” Allen said. “After you’re just playing consistently, it kind of feels a little easier as you go.”

A different sort of challenge

Plenty of differences exist between beach and indoor volleyball.

Starting with the most obvious: beach volleyball is played outside.

Wind, sun, temperature and depth perception are more significant concerns in beach volleyball than when playing on the hardwood.

Only two players are allowed per “team” in beach, versus six in indoor. And no rotations happen in beach.

“You get three contacts. You just can’t open-hand tip it (in beach),” Allen said. “Your sets have to be really clean, so usually a beach set would be like an indoor lift.”

Allen played in multiple national tournaments through her Texas club beach volleyball team, where outdoor competition is far more common given the climate.

Illinois doesn’t offer nearly as friendly of weather conditions on the regular.

That doesn’t mean beach volleyball isn’t present in this state, though.

Allen currently trains with Team One, which is based out of Aurora. Taye Im directs the program and has been involved with volleyball for more than 30 years.

“She moved from Texas, and she was struggling at another training facility,” Im said. “They knocked on my door, and I realized she’s a great fit and she’s a phenomenal athlete.”

Im said Allen’s movement and body control impressed him right away when assessing Allen’s talent and abilities. What Im hoped to help Allen with was more the mental side of beach volleyball.

“She just needed to understand the game at a higher level,” Im said. “I can tell she had this drive in her that was matching her athletic ability, as well as intelligence. It’s rare … where you have athletic ability, the drive and the intelligence.”

Bergman also didn’t need much time to observe the smarts his leading offensive option possesses.

“Her intelligence of the game is phenomenal,” Bergman said. “Beach has made her a more well-rounded type of volleyball player.”

Allen, typically with her mother, will travel north between two and three times per week to work with Team One, specifically whenever M-S volleyball isn’t in-season.

“It’s difficult,” Allen said, “but since it’s what I love, it makes it easier.”

“That comes down to what I call passion,” Im added. “She’s training almost like an Olympic athlete. … And if she was any closer, I know she would be here four days a week, because most of the kids that live nearby train four days a week.

“That’s what I admire about her, is that she’s a no-nonsense athlete. She knows what she has to do.”

It’s a winning combination

Finding a way to keep up with beach volleyball proved one of Allen’s toughest priorities upon arriving in Mahomet. Also difficult in the early going was meshing with the M-S volleyball program.

Not because of any animosity or uncertainty on either side, but because the pandemic limited time the Bulldogs could spend together.

“It was extremely tough,” Allen said. “I came in thinking that volleyball would be a way I’d make friends, but then we had very little volleyball through the year. So I didn’t really have any opportunities to make friends.”

Once Bergman could gather more frequently with his players, he made sure to set aside some time to get to know Allen.

“She’s a sassy leader, and it’s so much fun to have conversations with her and listen to her talk,” Bergman said. “She’s a fireball. But it’s all in good fun. She’s just an incredible person, first of all, and second she’s an incredible athlete.”

Allen received varsity repetitions as a freshman, and her responsibilities only grew after Ranstead graduated in 2021.

According to Bergman, Allen made herself easy to trust as a hitter.

“Avery’s core strength is probably one of the big benefits of being able to play beach and then go into the indoor season,” Bergman said. “You’re playing against the wind and the sun and the ground moving under your feet. You have a lot of stabilizing muscles you’re using more in sand than in indoor.”

Bergman and Im both point to the increased workload beach players face versus indoor volleyball players as another reason Allen is able to thrive in the IHSA indoor setting.

“You see the court better,” Im said. “You need to control the ball more precisely for beach. Indoor, it’s truly a power game, where beach is more a finesse game. You have to be an all-around athlete.”

Allen’s beach experience, plus her lack of height compared to some of her opponents, gives her a prime opportunity to vary her hitting in key situations.

“I don’t always swing. I kind of incorporate beach volleyball. I do shots and stuff, which is something not as common,” Allen said. “Lots of people don’t expect it, so that’s why it works.”

She mentions a roll shot, in which a hitter acts as if they’re going for a powerful finish but rolls the base of their palm over the top of the ball to create an off-speed effect.

“A normal outside hitter is just swinging hard and moving it around in the deep corners,” Allen said. “I’ve got to get crafty with it. I’ll do roll shots. I’ll roll cut, I’ll roll high over the setter’s head and I’ll roll it deep.”

Allen recalls that technique especially paying dividends in the finale of the Bulldogs’ home tournament, just before the IHSA postseason began.

“There was one game (against Pleasant Plains) that I just completely stopped swinging because my swing wasn’t working at all,” Allen said. “I just started rolling every single ball, and I could tell I was really frustrating the other team.”

Plenty on the horizon

Im said it’s likely little to none of Allen’s volleyball prowess could be witnessed at the D-I level if not for the sport’s beach option.

“At 5-7-ish, it’s almost impossible to be a D-I indoor offensive player. At most, you’re going to be a back-row player because of height,” Im said. “I’m super excited and proud of her passion and dedication.”

Allen said she began interacting with Boise State women’s beach volleyball coach Allison Voigt when Voigt saw Allen at a club national event last summer.

The Broncos finished 20-9 in their 2022 season during the previous school year.

“They really liked me, and I’ve always really liked their school,” said Allen, who made an unofficial visit to Idaho during the final stages of this year’s M-S volleyball season. “I just fell in love with their campus. The coaches are just really good people, and you can tell they know what they’re talking about. And the players are just great kids. I just kind of knew.”

Allen’s Bulldogs volleyball career has included plenty of winning in three seasons, with the club carrying a 77-12 record in that time. But Allen still is trying to guide the team to its first regional plaque since 2019.

Each of the last two seasons ended with Normal U-High defeating M-S in a Class 3A regional championship matchup.

“It really does motivate me,” Allen said, “because I really want to make it further than what we have been making it. And I think we can, for sure.”

“This next year, she really wants to leave a mark” Bergman added. “She wants to make something out of the postseason next year and make it a special year for everybody.”