SILOAM SPRINGS — Former Siloam Springs volleyball standout Hannah Allison sent in a three-word text message to her former coach Rose Cheek at 1:30 a.m. Sunday in the aftermath of the Texas Longhorns’ volleyball team winning the NCAA National Championship on Saturday.
“Dream come true!”
The Longhorns swept Oregon 3-0 on Saturday (25-11, 26-24, 25-19) to win Texas’ first volleyball championship since 1988.
Indeed it was a dream come true for Allison, the Longhorns’ 5-foot-11 junior setter, who won four state volleyball championships at Siloam Springs from 2006 to 2009. But it wasn’t unexpected, at least from her point of view.
When she signed with Texas in the fall of 2009, Allison said she did so with this very moment in mind.
“For me it was really exciting, but I wasn’t completely surprised by it either because we planned on it,” Allison said. “It’s just amazing that it actually happened and that we reached that goal.”
And, almost fittingly, Allison had a big role in the championship-winning point, teaming up with teammate Khat Bell for a stuff block on the match’s final play.
“The feeling of getting a stuff block is probably the best feeling in the world, and we all decided that it would be the best way to win a championship match,” Allison said. “I didn’t think it would be me. I’m not the biggest blocker on our team. It was really fun that I had that opportunity.”
Allison had 35 assists and five blocks in the match. Texas out-blocked Oregon by a margin of 15-1.
After the winning block, Allison dove onto the floor with her teammates in celebration.
“I tried to start a dog pile, and my teammates all ran up next to me,” Allison said with a laugh. “We did the worst dog pile ever.”
Allison said the Longhorns weren’t done with their celebrations until early Sunday morning when she was finally able to catch up to all the messages left on her phone. The Longhorns (29-4) left Louisville at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday and got back to Austin at 2 p.m. that afternoon when they were immediately bused to the Texas women’s basketball game where they were honored.
Allison finished the season with 1,186 assists, 228 digs and 65 total blocks. She was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team and Austin regional team.
“It’s been crazy,” Allison said. “It’s all been worth it. All of the stuff we had to do to get there, which was a massive amount of things. We worked our butts off for so long, and not just this year but for years and years and years. We’ve been close a couple of times and we finally got one.”
Allison’s mom, Kelly, pointed out to her that she has never lost a championship match in her career dating back to her time at Siloam Springs, where she was twice the Gatorade Player of the Year for Arkansas.
“That was a confidence builder for me,” Allison said. “It’s one of the big reasons Texas recruited me in the first place. I expect to win. It doesn’t matter what scale. I still feel that way. I thought that was pretty cool that I’ve been in five championships and I’ve been able to win all five.”