Shady Spring Volleyball standout hitter Meg Williams is no stranger to awards and accolades.
Friday afternoon, Williams received the biggest honor of her high school career when she was named the 2022-23 Gatorade West Virginia Volleyball Player of the Year.
Williams is the first Gatorade West Virginia Volleyball Player of the Year to be chosen from Shady
Spring High School.
According to the Gatorade press release Friday, the Player of the Year award, recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also recognizes a high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court.
The award distinguishes Williams as West Virginia’s best high school volleyball player and she is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Volleyball Player of the Year award to be announced in January.
The future Concord University Mountain Lion earned first team all-state honors all four seasons at Shady Spring and was first team captain the last two years. She helped the Tigers to four straight appearances in the state championship game, winning the title in 2020.
Along with being named Lootpress Volleyball Player of the Year for two straight seasons, Williams was also named the West Virginia Sports Writers Association Volleyball Player of the Year for 2022.
Kelly Williams was the Shady Spring head coach all four seasons and talked in an earlier interview about her daughter’s breakout moment.
“Meg came out and had an amazing freshman year, but when I saw her in the state tournament that year, it was the tipping point,” Kelly Williams said. “I could really see the potential that she had in her. It was an eye-opener to see how dedicated she was to winning. She was fearless in those games and she was willing to do whatever it took to win. That was when I realized if she continued to keep working, she would succeed.”
During her senior season, Williams led Shady to a 52-5-1 record amassing 553 kills, 389 digs, 124 blocks, 64 aces and 81 assists. For her career, Williams cleared the 1,000 milestone in three categories with 1,541 kills, 1,123 digs and 1,101 serve receives.
Williams is a National Honor Society member and sports a 4.13 GPA. She has volunteered locally mentoring ninth graders in the Next Step Program at Shady Spring. She has also donated her time to an autism awareness volleyball fundraiser for the past two years as well as the Daniels Elementary Field Day.
The press release quoted Hedgesville head coach Allison Whitford who has coached the Eagles during several battles with the Tigers. Whitford also coached Hedgesville standout Skylar Yates who was the 2020-21 Gatorade Player of the year.
“(Meg) definitely had a huge impact on her team’s success,” Whitford said. “They only dropped five matches this year and played several (Class) AAA teams. She is also a very humble player who lifts her team up no matter the score or how she is performing.”
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls
basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.
The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Williams joins an elite group of athletes to win the Gatorade Award including former Woodrow Wilson and Fairmont State standout Bryce Knapp who earned the honor in the 2018-19 season.
