CALEDONIA — Zoe Hansen was sitting in French class when she got the email.
On the first day of her second semester, the Caledonia High School junior opened the message and started crying from happiness.
Hansen had received an offer to play volleyball at Mississippi University for Women, and she knew she would take it.
“I love being at home and just playing a sport that I love,” Hansen said Friday morning — nearly a year after that moment — as she signed her national letter of intent to play for the Owls.
Hansen became the sixth Caledonia player in the past five years to join the squad at MUW. Savannah Thomas, Haley McMurphey and Cheyenne Ruth all previously played for the Owls, and Camryn Johnson and Maddy Suggs are currently on the team.
Hansen, close with both Johnson and Suggs during their high school days at Caledonia, began to realize something when the duo committed to play for the Owls: “Maybe this is a good opportunity for me, too.”
MUW coach Brooke Beasley Carter — Hansen’s coach with the Level Elite club team — helped the Cavaliers’ outside hitter realize that, too. Hansen officially set her decision in stone no more than two months after receiving her offer.
“Coach Brooke just really made me want to go to The W,” Hansen said.
Hansen’s signing solidifies a local connection that has been in place ever since MUW brought sports back starting with the 2017-18 school year. Caledonia coach Samantha Brooks, who played for the Owls in the 1990s, is glad to see that.
“I love that (Carter) recruits locally because it gives so many girls in our area an opportunity,” the coach said.
Now among them is Hansen, who overcame technical difficulties to put her name to paper Friday: The pen laid out for her signing refused to write.
“That’s not good,” Hansen observed quietly.
Still, the senior managed to honor the commitment she made to her sport since she was young. Introduced to volleyball around age 6 or 7 when her sister, Allison Garrett, played for Caledonia’s high school team, Hansen began to attend practices and shag balls for the older girls.
“I was like, ‘Wow, this is so cool,'” she said. “That’s what kind of started me.”
Hansen began playing volleyball in fifth grade, honing her skills by competing year round with both the high school team and Level Elite. Brooks said Hansen developed into a player with great court sense who understands the game well.
“She’s worked hard to achieve all the goals she set for herself,” Brooks said. “She’s helped our team achieve goals. She’s one of those players who a coach wants on her roster because she’s an effective player as far as keeping the ball in play, even putting the ball away.”
Brooks said Hansen will be a great addition to The W’s team and could be poised to provide value in another sense soon: Hansen is majoring in education and hopes to coach volleyball at the high school level someday.
“She’ll definitely be an asset as a coach as well,” Brooks said.
Brooks said she plans to take her team to watch Hansen join Johnson and Suggs on the court next fall, showing the Cavs’ next generation what their next step can be.
“I’m just really proud of her and really proud for her,” Brooks said of Hansen. “We’re going to miss her tremendously.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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