Mid October 2013 was a pressure-packed time for Glynn Academy senior Mallori Wickard. The Lady Terrors volleyball team was in the playoffs facing tough competition and Homecoming was fast approaching. But as the 5’10” Wickard tends to do, she rose above and took home the crown – literally. The day after leading the volleyball team to a 3-2 victory in their first playoff game against Northview, Wickard was named Homecoming Queen during halftime of a Terrors football game. An honor, she says, but also a genuine surprise. “I’m much more competitive in volleyball.”
She proved that just four days after winning her crown with a kill that helped the Lady Terrors sweep Lakeside-Dekalb and move into the state quarterfinals for the first time in school history.
Glynn Academy’s volleyball team went 42-14 this season with several of the losses coming while Wickard and teammate Ali Kirk were out with ankle injuries at the same time. Despite losing both of their top players for 17 matches, the Terrors swept through league play and the Region 3-AAAAA tournament with a perfect 18-0 record and without losing a set in region play. With Wickard and Kirk back for the Lady Terrors, they won eight in a row, including a perfect tournament run before winning the first two playoff games. The most memorable shot of Wickard’s career came during the Sweet Sixteen round against Lakeside-Dekalb at the GA gym. Wickard received a perfect set and was able to smash the ball. The Terrors went on to win the match and a celebration ensued. “It was an incredible feeling as we made school history,” she says. The ride came to an end against eventual state runner-up Sequoyah High School in the quarterfinals.
The daughter of Paul and Tonya Wickard of Brunswick, Wickard has played middle attacker/blocker for most of her volleyball career and added outside and right side attacker. During her senior season, she played six rotations, passing when she got to the back row, meaning that she was never out of the game.
That is until she went down with an injury on September 4, 2013 against Savannah Christian. During an attack, she twisted her ankle, resulting in a sprain that sidelined her for more than two weeks. Fortunately, one of the strongest parts of her game is Wickard’s desire and work ethic which encourages other players to be like her on and off the court. Glynn Academy Volleyball Coach Jon Ricketts has always been able to depend on her whenever the team needed a serve, a kill or block, she got it done. Even after missing so many games due to injury she still had 285 kills and 43 solo blocks last season, good enough to be named to the first team All-Area squad.
Wickard is a product of the feeder system, starting as a Glynn Middle School seventh-grader, and she has had a passion for the game since. She played on the junior varsity her freshman year but made the jump to the varsity as a sophomore. By her junior year she was good enough to be named to the All-Region Second Team. But it was her senior campaign when everything came together and the Lady Terrors won the Region 3-AAAAA crown and a trip to the Elite Eight of the state playoffs.
Wickard was also named the team’s Most Valuable Offensive Player.
Ricketts has seen Wickard mature as a player during his five years at the school. After serving as junior varsity coach, this past season was his first as head coach and the team set records along the way. Glynn Academy advanced to the Elite Eight in the state playoffs for the first time in the school’s history. With a new coach also came changes to the way the team approached the game. Wickard had come up as an outside hitter but agreed to move to middle blocker/hitter to help the team.
Ricketts credits Wickard for being able to transition into playing for a new coach in her senior year, calling her coachable. “She opened her mind to all the changes and style of play. She put her trust in what she was being taught…She learned and became a great volleyball player.”
Part of her growth as a volleyball player came in her sophomore year when she started working with the Southeast Volleyball Academy in Brunswick. Working with director Jeff Huebner taught Wickard the skill sets she needed to become a competitive player. “There was an incredible difference in my ability to perform on the volleyball court after the tough training SeVA provided for me,” she says.
She has also been an outstanding student with a 3.6 GPA and membership in clubs such as Pirates of the Spanish Main, Beta Club, DECA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Student Council. She is a regular on the honor roll, won first place in the 2012 Science Fair and was selected by faculty as a Most Outstanding senior. “Sports has taught her that achieving your goals takes hard work,” says her mother.
Wickard’s 70-inch wingspan and 40-inch vertical jump have caught the attention of several colleges: Shorter University, Georgia College and State University, Flagler College, West Georgia, Francis Marion University and Montevello University. She plans to major in biology/pre-med and eventually become a physician’s assistant specializing in pediatrics.
Before college will come a six-week trip to the Bahamas. Not the normal graduation trip with fun and frolic in the sun, this will be a mission trip interning with The Living Stone Ministry serving Haitian refugees. Her giving attitude and selfless acts are among the things Ricketts will miss when Wickard graduates in the spring.
“I will miss Mallori’s humbleness, her desire to be great, her leadership qualities through actions instead of words, and great character. She will be very hard to replace,” Ricketts says.
Volleyball Terminology 101
Set: a game to 25 points. (In a volleyball match, it is best 2 out of 3 sets)
Kill: a ball that is attacked and a point is immediately won
Block: jump to block the opponent from attacking and the ball does not cross over the net
Ace: a serve that immediately wins a point
Dig: passing a hard driven ball that was attacked from the opponent Middle attacker: located in the middle front of the court, blocks each swing the opponent takes on the other side of the net from each hitter, takes fast tempo attacks (the ball is set to the middle much faster than any other hitter) Outside attacker: located on the left front side of the court, blocks the right side attacker on the other side of the net, hits slower tempo attacks Right side attacker: located on the right side of the court, blocks the outside attacker on the other side of the net, hits slower tempo attacks
Passer: remains in the back row of the court, plays defensive, serve receives.
Wickard trains at the Southeast Volleyball Academy in Brunswick.
http://www.southeastvolleyballacademy.com
SE-PS-0314-Wickard
Player Spotlight / Southeast / March 2014
Mallori Wickard Glynn Academy Brunswick, Ga
By Rob Asbell
Photography: Jeffrey Griffith
