2023 Daily Chronicle Girls Volleyball Player of the Year: Genoa-Kingston’s Alayna Pierce

GENOA – Whatever else the team accomplished, Alayna Pierce said her No. 1 goal and that of her Genoa-Kingston volleyball teammates was to leave behind a lasting mark.

After two regional crowns, two conference titles, pretty much all the school records and a state championship, Pierce said it feels good knowing that place in history is cemented.

“I know last year one of our goals as an entire team was to leave a legacy,” Pierce said. “To know that we’ve put the impact on the school last year’s teams has, the three of us have, the entire team this year breaking records, winning regionals, winning conference, it was exactly what we wanted to do.”

Pierce was literally and figuratively on the front line of that legacy. She holds school records with 27 kills in a match, 488 kills in a season and 1,324 kills in a career. This season, in addition to the kills record, she had a 42% kill percentage, averaged six digs a match and was named to the All-Big Northern Conference first team.

For her accomplishments, she has been named the Daily Chronicle Girls Volleyball Player of the Year for the second straight year.

After the Cogs won a state title last year, they finished 36-2 this fall. They lost to eventual state runner-up IC Catholic in a Class 2A sectional semifinal after dispatching the Knights in the state title match last year.

Also at the sectional was Timothy Christian, with both private schools boasting players who compete for the U.S. National Team.

“We knew we had to fight hard,” said Pierce, who also was the Daily Chronicle’s 2022-23 Girls Athlete of the Year. “They’re a great program with great players. Whatever happened after the semifinal, we still would have to fight through the sectional final. We had to play our game and play as hard as we could.”

As she did last year, Pierce stayed on the court through all six rotations, providing a strong defensive presence when playing in the back row in addition to her strong hitting ability at the net.

Coach Keith Foster said even from the back row, Pierce did some pretty serious damage.

“It was a great, great encore to last year and a great ending to her career at Genoa-Kingston,” Foster said. “When teams came to play us, everybody knew Alayna. They tried to figure out ways to stop her. Most coaches were wise enough to know you couldn’t really stop Alayna, you could just do your best to limit the damage she did to you.”

Pierce was one of three NCAA Division I athletes on the Cogs’ roster, with libero Hannah Langton off to Central Michigan next year and Alivia Keegan heading to Belmont. Pierce committed in August to Tennessee Tech. All three signed their letters of intent last month.

Pierce said not only is the school close to her grandparents, but it also offers her the ability to play both regular and beach volleyball. Foster said Tennessee Tech is getting an easy-to-coach player who is a great leader.

Even though the Cogs fell short of a state title, Pierce said the year was a successful one.

“We know we worked hard and played as hard as we could,” Pierce said. “The part about state, we set that all to the side, because we knew last year we won state. So we just wanted to a fresh plate for this year, get as far as we could, work as hard as we could.”

Foster said that after the sectional loss, although there was sadness among Pierce and the team, there was no regret.

“You spend four years and you get to walk away without regret, it means you left everything out there,” Foster said. “She found a way to make her four years here successful in a lot of different aspects, not just the win-loss column.”