With her size and ability to slam the ball over the net, Hackett senior volleyball standout Michaelyn Freeman relishes her primary role as outside hitter. At the same time, she gives credit to her teammates playing on the back row for helping set Freeman up to deliver a flurry of kills.
“I feel like I succeed most of time on the front row, because I feel like I can give our team a point, and I feel like my back row gets the pass there,” said Freeman, in her third season as a starter. “That makes me most valuable (up front).”
The results speak for themselves. Last season as a junior, the six-foot Freeman posted a state-record 455 kills while recording a kill percentage of .582 and a hitting percentage of .440. She helped Hackett to a 36-0 record and the Class 2A state title, and was also named the Gatorade Arkansas Volleyball Player of the Year.
It also helped to have her mother, Bridget, serve as the Hornets’ head coach and two older sisters, Madeline and Makenzie, also become stellar players in their own right. Madeline is currently a senior playing for Central Baptist College in Conway.
“I was an eighth grader when my oldest sister was a senior (at Hackett), and she was just someone who did everything on the team; she could be counted on anywhere on the court,” Michaelyn Freeman said. “And so growing up with that as a role model, it made me want to be all the more better for my team. So I think that having that Madeline and Makenzie as my role models has been very beneficial for my team.”
But make no mistake, while both her older sisters achieved fame playing a variety of sports for Hackett, Michaelyn wants to forge her own name. Bridget Freeman has liked the way her youngest daughter has helped take on more of a leadership role and not rely on her older sisters as she did in the past.
“She’s kind of always been like our leader as far as her performance and everything,” Bridget Freeman said. “But I think this year, she’s really stepped into the mental, emotional leader for us as well.
“I like to see that coming out of her, because it just brings up the atmosphere of the whole team in general.”
Bridget Freeman said Michaelyn likes to talk all of the time. She agreed with that sentiment, and being a vocal leader.
“I feel like they look to me more to be that,” Michaelyn said. “And so I’ve kind of had to step up and be that for them. And I think that we’re a team who really needs reassurance from each other. So I just kind of make it a point to go out and tell each one I’m proud of them and I believe in them, and I think that’s really helpful.”
Michaelyn is going to be reunited with one of her sisters next season. She has committed to play at the University of Tulsa, where Makenzie is playing softball. Ironically, while Michaelyn was the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year in volleyball, Makenzie earned the same honor for softball for the 2023-24 season.
However, they won’t be rooming together, at least for Michaelyn’s freshman year, as she is obligated to stay in a freshman dorm. Nevertheless, she’s excited to be going up to play for an up-and-coming program in Tulsa. But she’s hoping to do that with another state championship in tow before finishing out her career with Hackett, which would be the fourth for the Hornets in program history.
“I just think we need to always be ready to give 100% effort,” Freeman said. “I mean, every point in practice, every point in game, matters, no matter what the score is, and so if we’re just always counting on each other to get everything we’ve got at all times, I mean, that’s all you can ask for to go win the state championship.”