The Mississippi Association of Coaches’ 19th Annual all-Star volleyball match this week will feature some familiar faces from the area.
Caledonia High School head coach Samantha Brooks will coach the North all-star team — which includes the Cavaliers’ Emily Clark and New Hope High School’s Kensley Woolbright — alongside New Albany’s Ashley Connolly.
The game will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Maurice Hall Activities Center Hangar Dome at Millsaps College in Jackson.
“It’s an honor,” Brooks said of this year’s event. “These girls are some of the elite, top players in the state, so it’s neat to go and play with the best of the best and for the girls to get to know each other from other areas. They play with girls that they’re used to playing against, and that’s a neat experience for them.”
Brooks coached in the 2019 iteration of the MAC all-star game, the same year her daughter Tori went as a player going into her senior year. Tori is now the volleyball coach at Heritage Academy.
There’s been some good volleyball talent representing Caledonia, and Clark is a continuation of that tradition. A determined and accomplished student and athlete, Clark was praised by her coach for her efforts in becoming a key member of the Cavaliers’ team even before her senior season.
“She’s been one of our top players the last couple of years,” Brooks said of Clark. “She was all-state this year, and all-division the last couple years. She’s a very solid player all around, very smart academically, and inclusive on our team. She’s a really good leader. She’s not always louder than everyone, but she leads by example and has earned the respect of her peers.”
Clark, a team captain for the last couple of years, will play alongside Woolbright, whose mother Allison is the head coach at New Hope. Kensley’s sister Annie will be a junior on the team this fall.
“Of course as a mom I’m as proud as any mom could be,” Allison Woolbright said of Kensley’s selection. “I think it’s just a great opportunity for her individually, and as her coach I think it speaks volumes about our program that she’s helped build.”
Coach Woolbright said she was excited to see the program represented through Kensley as well. She also spoke highly of Brooks and Clark and discussed the connection they have in the area. The Brooks and Woolbright families know each other through sports and church, and their daughters played club volleyball together.
The families have also connected in the past through the Northeast Mississippi Coaches Association volleyball events. Both coaches have been on the bench for annual all-star games held by the organization.
Coaches Woolbright and Brooks echoed similar values for their team, and both stressed the importance of their players being team players first.
“We’re big on team effort,” Woolbright said, “and while this is an individual accomplishment for (Kensley), she knows that her teammates are a big part of her getting here as well.”
“The coaching in the area is good,” Brooks added. “We’re getting good volleyball-minded coaches in the area, and it’s great to see girls learn the right way to play this sport and get the kinds of opportunities for college coaches to come out and watch them play.”
Clark and Kensley Woolbright are both multisport athletes with hopes of continuing their playing careers, and all-star games like this one are great opportunities to put their talent on display. It’s an opportunity well earned by both players, and they’ll get an extra warm-up with some of the best in the state as they prepare for their respective senior years.
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