Why Danielle Mahaffey's position change for Tennessee volleyball is paying off
Many players will say the team’s needs come first, but few will embody that like Danielle Mahaffey has for Tennessee volleyball.
The fifth-year senior has played every position in the front row for coach Eve Rackham Watt, going from right-side hitter to outside hitter to middle blocker in the spring of 2021. But that was nothing new for Mahaffey, who had the same versatility in high school.
“Danielle, since she arrived, really has kind of been like a Swiss army knife for us,” Rackham Watt said.
When Rackham Watt needed another middle blocker, senior Morgan Fingall was coming into her own as a right-side hitter, which was Mahaffey’s spot. So Fingall was in and Mahaffey slid over to be a middle blocker.
“We knew she was a really good natural blocker,” Rackham Watt said of Mahaffey. “But she’s just kind of built for it, she’s good off of one foot. So, she has just kind of taken it and run with it.”
The last position turned out to be her best, and Mahaffey earned AVCA Honorable Mention All-America and AVCA Southeast All-Region honors in 2021.
“Honestly, it's the team first,” Mahaffey said. “The team is bigger than me and that's what we're learning every day this year. But definitely willing to do whatever the team needs, and Eve wanted me there, so I'm here, doing the best I can with it.”
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Her 1.38 blocks per set in 2021 were a 25-point rally-scoring era single-season Tennessee record. It also made up for almost half of Tennessee’s 3.01 blocks per set that led the SEC and ranked No. 2 in the nation in 2021.
The shift to a defensive mindset was no problem for Mahaffey, who said getting a stuff block is 100% better than getting a kill.
“I love blocking with all of my heart,” Mahaffey said. “So definitely enjoy just the defensive aspect of it because I’m always going to most likely touch the ball or be around the ball. I love that … Now that I'm a year under I can kind of see everything moving, but in the beginning, I was like ‘I am so behind, I don't know where I'm going.’ ”
Rackham Watt said Mahaffey took ownership of the change, spending a lot of time studying film and asking questions. She wasn’t going to rely on her natural abilities and realized how important her position was for the team.
“For us to have a trust and reliability in our front row players being able to kind of slow down high-level attackers, it allows us to take transition swings, it allows us to take good transition opportunities,” Rackham Watt said. “I think for Danielle, she just takes away so much of the court and so our floor defenders have less to think about, less to see.”
Mahaffey’s position change is important for Tennessee, which opens its season with an exhibition game against Belmont on Saturday (3 p.m.) at Thompson-Boling Arena. Due to Ava Bell medically retiring and not coming back for a fifth season, all the other middle blockers are freshmen or redshirt freshmen. Mahaffey is already known as the team mom, so leading a position group of rookies is the perfect fit and it’s a role she embraces.
“I mean, if you were going to ask for somebody to be that role model or that kind of mom for them in that position, you couldn't ask for somebody better,” Rackham Watt said. “She's taking on that leadership role a little bit with them, pulling them off to the side of the court during drills, telling them something, getting excited for them when they do something well. I think it definitely gives them a peace of mind, knowing that they have a person in their position they can look up to.”
Cora Hall: Covering UT women's athletics
Twitter | cora.hall@knoxnews.com
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why Tennessee volleyball's Danielle Mahaffey changed positions
