Photo by Kyle Parmley.
Allie DeSantis (11) passes during a match against Hoover last fall. After recovering from a thumb injury, DeSantis will play all the way around for the Jags this season.
When Allie DeSantis is standing off to the side at the conclusion of warmups this year — hands clasped behind her back — there’s no need for alarm.
She knows the value of her presence to the Spain Park High School volleyball team and won’t risk the chance of another freak accident putting a damper on her senior season.
Prior to an early-season tournament match last fall, DeSantis was hit directly on the thumb by a ball flying from the other side of the net. She was hitting one final warmup serve and never saw it coming.
“It hurt really bad, so I crouched down and I closed my eyes and thought, ‘it’s just a bad jam,’” she recalled.
Unfortunately, it was more gruesome than that. DeSantis spent the night in the emergency room as doctors attempted to reset the thumb to its natural position. An MRI concluded she had ligament damage in her thumb, requiring surgery and sidelining her for the rest of the year.
“School was a struggle,” DeSantis said. “I got so discouraged because it was my right hand and I couldn’t do anything.”
Given her history, though, the downtrodden attitude came and went quickly. DeSantis had been through injury rehabilitation the year prior, after tearing the meniscus in her knee. That experience, paired with her mental toughness gained from years of gymnastics, meant she would get back in the swing of things in short order.
“I feel like I can get through literally everything,” she said, “because gymnastics is one of the hardest sports.”
DeSantis picked up volleyball in middle school and has focused exclusively on it during her high school years. She traveled to tournaments with the varsity team as a freshman, while her sister Jordan starred for the Jags. Now a senior and healthy once again, she has developed into one of head coach Kellye Bowen’s most valuable players.
“She’s the type of kid you have to have on the floor and it’s hard to take her off because she’s so intense and so competitive,” Bowen said. “That’s what you want. You want people to have volleyball IQ and people who can compete. She does that.”
DeSantis and Bowen both use the word “scrappy” to describe her play on the court. She can play all the way around the court, doing anything from playing defense to setting to hitting. She’s not going to be tallest player on any team, but that hasn’t stopped her yet.
“She can do everything,” Bowen said.
Spain Park is attempting to break through to the super regional tournament for the first time in Bowen’s five-year tenure. The Jags were one of the state’s top teams a season ago but were unable to get out of the area thanks to a pair of state tournament teams in Mountain Brook and Oak Mountain.
Following the graduation of Marlee Johnson and Caroline Horton, DeSantis has been one of three seniors — along with Sha’Kevia Hogan and Lora Watkins — forced to step up and lead the team this season. It comes naturally to DeSantis, since she has no issue being vocal. But she leads by example as well.
“She pushes them,” said Bowen. “She’s always leading the pack. She’s first in the running, she always steps up in a drill.”
The Jags will get the chance to make their breakthrough later this month, with the area tournament taking place Oct. 23.
