2008 All-State Volleyball Team: Go-to hitter

To view photos of the 2008 All-State Volleyball Team, please click on the story graphic at right.

Brooke McAlister went to her first volleyball tryout an unwilling participant.

"My friends invited me, and my mom signed me up," said the Pleasant Grove senior. "I didn't really want to go, but once I got out on the court, I just loved it."

That love developed into a full-blown passion that will take her to the University of Utah next season. The Viking outside hitter was selected as the 2008 Ms. Volleyball after leading her team to a co-region title and a second-place finish in the 5A state tournament.

"She's definitely the most consistent all-around player we had, and one of our go-to hitters," said Viking head coach Jamie Schapper. "We loved her hitting down the line. It would look like she was going somewhere else, and then she'd hit that line. It was hard for other teams to know where she was going to hit."

McAlister was one of just two seniors on the Viking squad this season, and as such, she felt more responsibility to do for her teammates what others had done for her when she was a young player. A good friend, she was always a positive force on and off the court.

"She's kind of quiet," said Schapper. "But she definitely leads with her skills, by how she plays. She always plays hard."

McAlister was playing under her third coach in four years and felt that the best way to lead this season was to be a good example.

"Just listening to the coach, not talking back and working hard," she said. "I really wanted to step it up as a leader."

McAlister participated in dance, soccer and basketball before deciding playing volleyball year-round would satisfy her craving for the game.

"From that first season, she just absolutely fell in love with it," said her father, Rick McAlister. "She was about 10 years old. ... She played club the next couple of years, just in local tournaments because we wanted to see if she was truly interested in it."

As she played the game more and more and at higher levels of competition, her desire to continue playing volleyball after high school grew as well. She turned down about a half-dozen other offers last winter to commit to the Utes.