LAMP's Dixon enjoys national volleyball title in Orlando

LAMP’s Jailyn Dixon competed with the Capital City Juniors 17-Under team in the 49th AAU Girls Junior National Volleyball Championships in Orlando, Fla., last week. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Jailyn Dixon now has a renewed sense of confidence as she works out each week with her LAMP volleyball teammates. 

The leader of the Golden Tigers, one of the best volleyball players in central Alabama, now has a championship to celebrate as well. 

Dixon was a member of the Capital City Juniors 17U team that competed in the 49th AAU Girls Junior National Volleyball Championships in Orlando, Fla., last week. On Sunday, the Montgomery club volleyball team capped a 13-0 run through the tournament by defeating Kusler Klinics Volleyball Club of Pierre, S.D., in the finals to win the national title. 

“I think now I know what it takes to win at such a high level,” Dixon said. “It not only takes the talent, but it takes the energy, wanting to win, not letting a mistake get you down. You all have to play as a team. That felt good, winning the national championship, so now I want to push and win state (at LAMP).”

Dixon teamed up with a trio of Catholic players (Allyse Rudolph, Mally Barranco and Harper Howell), a trio of Edgewood Academy players (Lindsey Brown, Karlee Mainor and Baileigh Seale), Macon East Academy’s Sara Cochran and New Life’s Emma Chavers to grab the 17 Aspire title with an unbeaten run through the tournament. 

The team was coached by Tori Renda and Julianne Wilkes. 

“It feels good to know the people around you are pushing for the same thing,” Dixon said. “The whole tournament, there was such good energy. A couple of times, we had to come back and win the last two sets and just the fact that you could tell everyone wanted it was good. I think that’s due to the fact that everyone on the team was talented. It’s just a different atmosphere that I’ve never really experienced.

Now, she wants to channel that energy into her high school team. Dixon is the leader of a team that will be aiming for its fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament as it deals with another coaching change and a rebuilding task. 

Dee Wilson built the Golden Tigers into a state title contender but was forced to step down after the 2020 season after her husband took a coaching position in another state. Tanielu Mose took over for the 2021 season on an interim basis and got the Tigers back to the state tournament semifinals for the third consecutive year. Now, it’s Mark Eubanks’ turn.  

“It’s a change,” Dixon admitted. “We came so close (to a state title) my freshman year. We had Coach Dee and we still had the same girls (coming back in 2021) and we thought we were going to win state. We could’ve won state, but we got a new coach and just didn’t do enough to get there.”

Eubanks said he has spoken to Dixon about taking what she learned on her club volleyball team and applying it to the Golden Tigers. 

“That’s one of the things I spoke to her about,” he said, “the experience, the opportunity, the moment you were in (with AAU) is going to be a great asset to what we can do here at LAMP. The pieces around her at LAMP are very comparable to what she played with at CCJ. Everybody here has a common goal here at LAMP and that is to get back to state.”