This article recaps an interview from The Rush's Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026 episode. Watch The Rush on YouTube.
Dixie junior Shae Stephens has 283 kills this season, and she's taking the Flyers into the 4A playoffs on a roll. In Dixie's 3-1 win over Hurricane, she had 16 kills, 17 digs, an ace and 29 serve receptions. Dixie plays Desert Hills on Thursday at 9 a.m.
Stephens said the Flyers have found their voice. "Our team is, we're kind of quiet at the beginning of the season," she said. "So we've been super loud and just working on our hit selection and being intense with how we're playing."
A leader the team trusts
Stephens sees energy as her job. "I think I help bring the team up a lot with my energy, and I've been playing volleyball for a really long time, so I think the team trusts me," she said. "So when I say something, I feel like it helps them understand, like, we need to do this and we need to get this done."
The pieces around her
She called junior libero Isabel Barros "an amazing libero" who lifts everyone. "She is just so good at playing her defense and her specific spot that it helps relieve some of the pressure on the rest of us, because we know that if the ball is going over there, she's going to pick it up."
Sophomore Emily Judd has grown up fast. "She is so good that I think a lot of us forget she's only a sophomore," Stephens said. "Her blocking is just great. We can always trust that she's going to put that up and we just have to play around her."
Junior setter MJ Mauinatu runs the show. "I think everyone should be able to play with a setter as good as MJ," Stephens said. "She has so much ball knowledge that she knows where she's going to put the ball and knows what the other team is going to do before they even do."
From libero to go-to hitter
Stephens played libero on JV as a freshman and started hitting the summer before her sophomore year. This is her first season as Dixie's main outside hitter. "Being a hitter is still kind of new to me," she said. "I have a lot of support, so I feel really confident on the court."
Her advice to young players making a switch: "Stay confident in what you're doing. And even when you're not super good, you're going to get better if you keep trying."
She said coach Stacy Leavitt's intensity fuels the group. "When she gets intense, we know that she really wants it," Stephens said. "So I feel like that kind of sparks a fire in all of us, and we want to play good for her."
See the Dixie roster on MaxPreps, and read about Desert Hills' Shiozawa sisters sweeping the top two singles titles.