Kayla Whitner (18-April) ready for Alabama!

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama volleyball announced the singing of five athletes that will join the team starting in the 2016 season.

The Crimson Tide welcomes junior college transfer Abolanle Onipede (Stafford, Texas – Blinn College) as well as Hayley McSparin (Highland, Ill. – Highland HS), Cidavia Hall (Dothan, Ala. – Dothan HS), Alexa Tomlack (Oakland, Mich. – Stoney Creek HS) and Kayla Whitner (Lawrenceville, Ga. – Mountain View HS).

HEAD COACH ED ALLEN ON THE 2016-17 SIGNING CLASS

HAYLEY McSPARIN

“Hayley is an extremely talented attacker who we think has a chance to be a true utility player. We’re expecting early on to use her in the middle but we think she has the ability to potentially slide over to one of the pins. She’s very athletic and will continue to grow as she matures as an athlete in the weight room. She has a live arm that can manipulate the ball pretty well so we’re excited with what she brings from an attacking perspective.”

CIDAVIA HALL

“CeCe is a junior college athlete that has grown late to the game. She only began playing as a sophomore in high school but she is extremely athletic and touches well over 10 feet. She is really starting to understand more things about the game. She has a chance to be as athletic of a player as we’ve ever had at Alabama. As we continue to train her, she’ll be able to give us a lot of depth at the middle and the right side positions.”

ALEXA TOMLACK

“Alexa is coming in here to compete for the starting setter position. We expect her to add a degree of athleticism to that position that will make her competitive. She is very quick and moves laterally extremely well. She is fast-twitch and will grow into that setting position. She has played on talented teams that will prepare her well for this transition. She, along with Shannon Mikeskey, will make us better in that position. This will add some depth and competitiveness to that position that we haven’t had and we could see using her in a 6-2 offense or as a defensive specialist potentially. She has above-average back court skills defensively as a setter.”

KAYLA WHITNER

“Kayla in an outside hitter who has had a good high school career. She’ll come in and add depth as an outside hitter and as a back row player. She is very sold about playing at Alabama and will bring a lot of passion and excitement to the floor. We can’t wait to bring her in and see what she brings to the table.”

ABOLANLE ONIPEDE

“She will bring a great deal of athleticism and tremendous depth in the middle. She has played two years of volleyball at junior college level and she will bring a degree of experience that will help her compete in the position readily. She played at a very high level at Blinn, winning a national title in 2014 and finishing seventh this year.”