Currently ranked No. 1 in the country, the women’s volleyball team has gotten off to a great start begin this 2014 season. Sophomore outside hitter Allee Stelogeannis only started in six of 29 matches last season but she has made a very large impact on her team’s success so far this year.
When asked about why she has played a far more significant role on her team this season compared to the last one, Stelogeannis said, “Last season, I was trained as an outside, middle, and right side, just hoping to play wherever the team needed me, which is still the case now. This year I’m training a lot more as an outside so I’m able to get a lot more reps there compared to last year. We lost an incredible outside (Holly Reschke) last year when she graduated, so that’s given me an opportunity to hopefully step in and be able to fill her role.”
The Spartans’ No. 1 ranking did not come easily for them. They began the season ranked No.2, but after a strong 8-1 start that included four wins over top five ranked opponents has helped move them up to the top spot.
“Being No.1 in the nation is an honor. Not many people get the chance to say that which I think is what often creates motivation for our team.
We know it’s an honor and we know the territory that comes with it. When you’re ranked No.1, everyone else is out to get you and everyone else prepares their best game for when they play you,” Stelogeannis said.
“That means we have to always try to prepare our best game and I think that’s what helps us stay motivated and keep training.
Coach [Catanach] definitely reminds us to enjoy the feeling, but never get too caught up in the fact of it. Anything can happen any day but it’s definitely one of our goals to stay up there.”
Despite being an exceptional volleyball player, she was also an accomplished softball player. Growing up, she always envisioned that softball would be the sport she played in college, not volleyball.
“I played softball ever since I was five years old and never expected to be playing college volleyball. Softball was what I had gone to camps and showcase tournaments for until I kind of started getting serious about volleyball freshman year of high school,” Stelogeannis said.
Eventually, Stelogeannis had to choose one sport over the other, and it was not an easy decision to make.
“I started playing both travel softball and volleyball at that point and after sophomore year, I realized I should probably pick one or the other if I was going to continue in college. I had already begun to get recruited in softball by some schools by then but volleyball was something new and exciting to me so it was extremely difficult to choose which sport I was going to have to quit,” Stelogeannis said.
Ultimately, the choice was made. “When I hurt my knee badly during softball season is when I realized I really need to choose and ended up choosing volleyball. I still love softball to this day, but volleyball was so fast paced and I felt like it just fit me better. I still love going and secretly hitting some [batting practice] every now and then though,” Stelogeannis said.
Though it is still early in the volleyball season, Stelogeannis and her teammates have high expectations for themselves for the coming months. “My obvious goal, as well as the team’s goal, is to win the national championship. That would be ideal. To get there, we have to win conference, and regionals, so those are our goals as well,” Stelogeannis said.
Andrew Stamas can be reached at andrew.stamas@spartans.ut.edu