New Trier Athlete to Watch: Allison Van Horn

Catch a New Trier volleyball match, and it’s hard to miss Allison Van Horn.

She can be seen in the back row, starting at libero—a position she has played throughout her career. And while her efficiency will get her noticed around the conference, she holds a vitally important role that can’t be recognized when she puts on the her knee pads.

Earlier:

Van Horn is the Trevian event planner, a vital yet under-appreciated role by the New Trier faithful.

The New Trier volleyball team has developed a reputation as one of the area’s best, and some believe the team works so well on the court because it spends even more time together off it.

Sleepovers, dinners and other bonding activities are typically planned by the captain, a role Van Horn was voted into this offseaon.

“Once we’re all comfortable together and playing together, it’s a lot easier to talk and play a lot cleaner volleyball,” Van Horn said. “I remember last year coming in as the new girl [and] it was a little intimidating; and I want to make sure no one feels that way and everyone is friends because if you’re timid on the court, it kind of shows.”

This year was the first that Trevian head volleyball coach Hannah Hsieh decided to elect captains right after the previous season. She felt that the graduating seniors and other members of the team who had played with Van Horn and the other captains would have a best grasp as to who could lead.

A first-year varsity player may not be able to vote as knowledgably.

“It was really nice to know that my peers felt that I could do a good job leading the team,” Van Horn said. “We all care so much about this program so it was a huge decision. It was really nice to know they care that much.”

In her second varsity season, Van Horn will start for the first time in her career.

As a libero, the stat that will show her efficiency is “digs” and “service aces.” When she passes the ball she’ll be the first to touch it.

Her responsibility is to get the ball to the setter and start the play. If the pass isn’t there, the play can’t be executed.

“So everyone in the back row, it’s a lot of pressure to make sure that you get that ball to the setter because that’s kind of what starts [it],” Van Horn said. “From there you can go to a play but the beginning of every play is a pass.”

Van Horn did see significant playing time off the bench last season when the Trevians made it all the way to the supersectionals—the final eight teams in the state—and lost to York.

Though they graduated most of their starters, the Trevians aren’t tempering expectations for a program that has always been in the mix to go downstate.

Most girls, like Van Horn, wait their turn to shine because New Trier has such a big talent pool. But with a relatively new team to take the court this fall, gelling quickly becomes even more important if the Trevians hope to have a successful season.

“I rely heavily on the captains to make sure that the cohesiveness is something that they are conscience of,” Hsieh said. “Even when they’re practicing and peppering, their job is to make sure we’re integrating the returning players with the new players and getting to know them.

“I think that volleyball is one of the most team-based sports, where you really completely rely on everybody on the team.

But despite Van Horn’s cliché leadership-by-example personality on the court, it was her approachability and ability to appeal to the underclassmen on the team that got her elected a captain.

She isn’t the type of super-intense player who needs to be alone before a match. Instead she enjoys listening to the same iPod with a teammate on the bus to away games or even blasting music on the speakers.

“[I want to] make sure everyone stays positive because there will be hard games and we will have to fight back,” Van Horn said. “As long as everybody stays positive and puts in 110 percent every time, I think it’s my job to make sure everyone enjoys the season and gets as much out of it as they can.”