But for high school athletes, the majority of which are minors and still join their parents at the breakfast table in the morning, the luxury of moving your education elsewhere isn’t as independent of a choice and includes several phone calls to the school district.

So when a familiar face, Megan Allred — a former All-Region Titan herself — steps back into the halls of her alma mater, there’s going to be a buzz inside the locker room. Senior captains Saniah Johnson and Breanne Jacobson recalled their very first film session with Allred.

“When we started scouting (teams), I was like ‘Oh, we’re actually doing this? This is legit,'” Johnson said. “It was exciting to actually go up to the high level and be like that.”

In 2023, Allred medically retired from her post as an outside hitter at St. Mary’s College of California before returning home to become the next head coach at Syracuse and assist with Club V volleyball in North Salt Lake.

From those initial open gyms, Jacobson and her fellow seniors could tell Allred meant business.

“It just felt like a college-level type of situation,” Jacobson said. “We were scouting this team and we were super excited for the season to come.”

Syracuse opened the season with a 6-1 start, including a five-set victory over consistent power Bingham. Senior Karlie Hamblin, who led Region 1 with 512 total digs, said the road win in South Jordan wasn’t just her favorite memory, but a pivotal moment for the season.

“It was very eye-opening for us to be able to beat a team like that,” Hamblin said. “It showed that we have talent and potential and can compete with the best teams in the state.”

The Titans went 23-9 overall and 9-1 in Region 1. Syracuse is the 2024 Standard-Examiner All-Area Girls Volleyball Team of the Year.

With a fifth all-time region title in hand, Syracuse received a first-round bye in the 6A state playoffs and came one set short against Corner Canyon in the quarterfinals.

In consolation matches, Syracuse swept Fremont and defeated Skyridge in three sets for a fifth-place finish.

Heavier expectations await Syracuse in 2025, with the latest campaign’s kill leader, sophomore Brinkley Barkdull (2.7 per set), and assist leader, sophomore Miyah Lish (1,077 career total), are set to take hold of the bar set by their upperclassmen.

Reflecting on her first season, Allred said the overwhelming sum of the Titans’ accomplishments came on the back of her first-ever senior class.

“They’re going to leave a big hole on our team,” Allred said. “That’s not only in the volleyball gym. I feel they’re really good at including their team and kind of welcoming everybody, and so they’ve helped us have more of that family aspect. That feeling and vibe makes a big difference in volleyball.”

Connect with prep sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.