Vandal volleyball’s Allison Walker received another WAC honor last week when she was named the conference player of the week for the second time in her career.
Walker came into last season as an unknown after redshirting her first year at Idaho, but she soon became a dominating force on the court. She has started at outside hitter for two years, and in that time she’s led the team in kills and been a big part of the team’s success.
Walker’s performances against Eastern Washington and Utah State helped propel the Vandals to two straight sweeps. In those matches she nabbed her fifth and sixth double-double in a row, and had a career-best 17 digs and a season high 24 kills in the match against Eastern Washington. Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said Walker’s swing contributes to her success.
“She’s learning to control the ball to where she can get a kill every time,” Buchanan said. “She has a big swing when she’s on time and she’s definitely putting the ball away. She hits hard.”
One thing that sets Walker apart is her ability to play all aspects of the game. Many outside hitters are all about offense and struggle on the defensive side. Buchanan said Walker is a good player because she can play more than just offense.
“The thing that she’s doing right now is she is playing the whole game,” Buchanan said. “She’s passing, she’s serving, she’s playing defense as well as the offensive side of it. In the past when we’ve had a great hitter we haven’t always had the back row with it. She is really picking up the whole game and she’s able to do everything.”
Being named WAC player of the week is another achievement Walker can add to her resume. She made history last year when she became the first freshman to receive all-WAC honors from Idaho. This season she was named preseason all-WAC and has been living up to those expectations so far.
While being recognized for success is always nice, there’s always more an athlete can do to improve. Buchanan said Walker has been working on reducing out of system errors and improving her mechanics.
“The mechanic part of it and the form is huge,” Buchanan said. “Just being off a little can cause that error, especially when you’re going for it.”
Walker is playing at a high level right now, but so is the rest of the squad. Saturday’s victory over Fresno State puts the Vandals at five wins in a row and third in the WAC behind New Mexico State and No. 8 Hawaii.
The Vandals are seeing success right now and Walker has been a big part of that for two seasons. Knowing that she has two more years on the court should make every fan optimistic about Idaho’s future.