Well everyone, we went through the season watching the Transy women’s volleyball team give their blood, sweat, and tears for their team and this school. The team, led by Head Coach Amy Barmore, had a fantastic run and kept us on the edge of our seats up until the end. After beating Birmingham-Southern in four sets, the Bats got their first tournament win following an offensive one-two punch from senior setter Hanna Talkers with 52 assists and then a blistering air raid of 22 kills from Jordan Horne.
We then watched the team take on the No.1 seeded Emory, where our Bats fought for four sets, and after almost coming back to win the last, lost in a close one. This wrapped up a historic season for not just the team, ending with a record of 28-5, but also for the seniors on the team, like Talkers, who broke Transy’s assist record and finished top-10 in the nation for assists. I caught up with Talkers to get her thoughts on the season. “I would define the season as making history and achieving goals. This season we hit a lot of milestones for Transy volleyball and made history many times. We achieved every goal we set. We beat multiple ranked teams, became ranked, went undefeated in conference, won the conference tournament, went to NCAA, and got to the second round of NCAA all for the first time in program history. A lot of the players reached milestones individually which was amazing to see! We have two All-Americans (Ellie Stigger, Talkers) and individual region and conference titles as well.”
In regards to her assist record, Talkers said, “It feels great to have the record for assists at Transy, but none of that is possible without the help of my teammates. Without passes to be able to set the hitters for a kill, my achievement would not have been possible! I owe my teammates for helping me set the record.” The last question I asked her was what her plans after volleyball were and she expressed a desire to stay active in the sport. She explained, “Now that the season and my career is over… I still plan on volleyball being a huge part of my life. I will be playing in leagues, especially sand, and attending games, as many as I can. I also have thought about coaching and giving back to the sport that gave me so much.” She added, “In my life outside of volleyball, I am pursuing degrees Accounting and Spanish, and plan to take the CPA and work for a firm after graduating in May.”
This season has been a turning point for the program and has really set up a bright future for our Bats next year.
