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In helping her team secure a state championship, Alayna Pierce also set the Genoa-Kingston record for career kills. And the outside hitter still has a year left to add to her records and accomplishments with the Cogs.
The big-swinging junior finished with 456 kills and helped the Cogs win their first Class 2A state volleyball championship and the third overall team title in school history this year and was named the 2022 Daily Chronicle Volleyball Player of the Year.
“It’s kind of amazing to know I’ll leave that kind of legacy,” Pierce said. “It’s good to know, with the help of my teammates, I’m able to do what I have been. And I’m proud of my teammates who have accomplished other records, as well.”
Pierce expanded her career total to a school-record 830 kills and even had 18 kills in a single game, which also is a school record. However, her game isn’t just at the net. She’s a six-rotation player who had 317 digs this year, plus served at a 94.4% success rate.
“She didn’t really display a weakness this season,” G-K coach Keith Foster said. “When teams scouted her, they probably had plans – I wasn’t a fly on the wall in those rooms – but she was able to find something else when someone plans for her. ... She’s so difficult to pick up and engage. She’s a nightmare for other teams.”
With players such as Alivia Keegan and Hannah Langton feeding her the ball, it helped her game all the more, Pierce said.
“I’m really glad for the perfect sets they would give me,” Pierce said. “They would move me around and stuff. They really helped me succeed this year, along with passing, because that obviously helps the setters get the balls to me.”
Foster said Pierce always plays at a high level of intensity and it’s one of her biggest strengths.
“She’s always putting in her best effort,” Foster said. “I’m not sure I’ve seen her act or work differently between a practice and a match. She does have an extra gear for game day, but she puts everything she has into practice, too.”
That intensity paid off in the biggest way, Foster said, leading to the Class 2A state title. The Cogs beat IC Catholic 25-21, 27-25 in the championship match Nov. 12.
But Foster said Pierce was close with the four seniors on the team, and that was a big motivating factor throughout the playoff run.
“The title was great and it was earned,” Foster said. “On the other side of hard work is success. I think that validated all the hard work she put in. But maybe the best part of the title to her was that she won it with the seniors, who she’s close with them. And she won it with the other members of the team who are not seniors. I think it’s very much about their relationships and being able to do one more thing together that was so meaningful and the culmination of such hard work.”
Pierce said the whole experience seemed surreal.
“We’ve had so many fun things the community has done for us,” Pierce said. “It’s kind of settled in a little. But it still doesn’t feel like we won a state championship.”
She said the team has the ability to repeat. While four seniors are graduating, a lot of talent comes back for the Cogs, including Langton and Keegan.
Pierce already has committed to continue her career at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville. She said not only is it close to where her grandparents live, the school offers beach volleyball, as well, something Pierce plans to compete in. She said she took up the sandy, two-player version of the sport in eighth grade and is excited to continue to pursue it.
“It’s nice to get out of state but still have some family around,” Pierce said. “And I get to play beach volleyball as well as indoor, so that’s a perk.”