Burdette helps Collierville earn spot in state tournament
Her dad is the University of Memphis women’s volleyball coach, but Brinley Burdette didn’t start playing volleyball until her freshman year of high school. She was focused on tennis instead.
“I played tennis for 13 years. I was very competitive. My mom is a pro and she taught me tennis, so I had parents coaching me in both sports,” Burdette said.
Burdette, an all-tournament selection, helped Collierville sweep Arlington in three sets in the Class AAA sectional title match Thursday night, sending the Dragons back to the state tournament.
“She just finds a way to get the ball over. She’s a big block for us and she does a lot of communicating on the court,” Collierville coach Lindsay Vicknair said.
This is the second stint in the midsouth for the sophomore middle blocker who moved to the area last January when her father, Sean, was named Memphis coach.
He had previously been an assistant coach at Ole Miss from 2011-13. Other coaching stops include Bradley, Ohio State, Towson, Pittsburgh and Green Bay.
“My favorite stop has probably been Oxford. The people there are super nice. Getting to go to the Grove and the football games and the volleyball games is a super fun atmosphere,” Burdette said.
She says she’s glad to be back in the mid-south after being in Green Bay the last four years.
“The people are super nice. Its warm. There’s a lot of stuff to do. Its better than Wisconsin which was in the middle of nowhere. Here there’s a ton of shopping and fun stuff,” Burdette said.
She joined the Collierville volleyball team last year because she spend so much time around the game that she wanted to give playing a shot.
“I just loved watching my dad’s teams play. I was there every day and loved the thought of being able to play on a team. Its fun having teammates and bonding together. Its better than playing individually which gets boring after a while and you can get mad at yourself. That’s why I picked up volleyball right after I quit tennis,” she said.
Burdette plays middle blocker, the same position her dad played when he was in college at Ohio Dominican University.
“He critiques me a lot. But he’s super supportive. He comes to a lot of my games and even when he’s not here he’s watching on periscope and he’s always wanting me to win,” Burdette said.
The TSSAA girls volleyball championships take place from Oct. 22-24 in Murfreesboro. Houston, Briarcrest, and Memphis East have also clinched spots in the tournament.