From Redhawk to Lumberjack, Shelton goes D1

Haley Ward, Sports Editor|May 3, 2023

Seniors Mary Jane Mccurdy and Brooklyn Shelton were presented with District 10-5A preseason awards on Sunday. Shelton was awarded with the Defensive Most Valuable Player.

Junior Brooklyn Shelton made the decision to continue playing volleyball past high school with her verbal commitment to play D1 at Stephen F. Austin State University.

“I was so excited for Brooklyn when she told me she committed to SFA,” head volleyball coach Eighmy Dobbins said. “She has been working so hard and always had the goal of playing in college so getting to see her dream come true was the best. I knew she would end up at a great program, and SFA is always a really, really strong and competitive team. She will fit in so great there and I can’t wait to go out to Nacogdoches and support her.”

Despite only being a junior, the decision to commit to SFA was not a hard one for Shelton.

“It was not hard to decide to commit because I love the program so much,” Shelton said. “It felt like it was meant to be. I had to decide if SFA was going to fit my academic needs but mainly I had to decide if SFA was the best place for my development as a volleyball player.”

While she may be with the Redhawks for another season, Shelton is looking forward to playing as a Lumberjack.

“I am mostly looking forward to playing in a new environment,” Shelton said. “SFA is very competitive in their conference and I cannot wait to see how they develop as a program. I chose SFA because I wanted to stay in Texas and be fairly close to home. It checked all of the boxes in terms of team culture, competition level and location.”

According to Dobbins, Shelton is the most deserving of this opportunity and it shows through her winning “Teammate of the Year” for three consecutive years.

“Brooklyn deserves this because there truly isn’t a harder worker in our program,” Dobbins said. “She gives 100% on the court, in the weight room, and the classroom. She has won our ‘Teammate of the Year’ award for three years straight and is the perfect example of the type of player we want to have in our program. She has always had such a positive outlook on her future in volleyball and kept her end goal in mind to motivate her. She is very deserving of this opportunity, and she will kill it at SFA. I am so proud of her; We will miss her so much at Liberty.”