Amidst a 4-18 season, Missouri volleyball junior outside hitter Anna Dixon isn’t phased.
On a young Missouri team, Dixon understands her role as a leader and mentor for a squad that features more first-year players than returning members. This season, offensive inconsistency and late-game struggles are main contributors to the Tigers’ hardships, but Dixon knows the foundation for potential is there.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it’s going to take time, so baby steps for sure,” Dixon said.
The transition from last year to this year foreshadows Dixon’s vision for the team. After losing eight members of Missouri’s 2020 NCAA tournament team, including All-SEC senior outside hitter Kylie Deberg and sophomore middle blocker Claudia Dillon, the Tigers used the offseason to restructure the team and fill the holes left by those who moved on.
A season later, Missouri has a team full of new faces and emerging talent, but also features one of the youngest teams in the SEC. Throughout the transition, Dixon has been instrumental in helping the team succeed through her leadership, which continues to grow game by game.
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Dixon always had a feeling she would make an impact on the court, but her first love didn’t stem from volleyball; instead, it came from basketball. Dixon grew up playing a variety of sports, trying to find the one that suited her game. Eventually, she chose volleyball, a sport that ran throughout her own family.
Her mother played at Wichita State, while her aunt represented Kansas State. With two older sisters and a cousin in the sport as well, Dixon naturally fell in love.
“My parents never really forced it on me,” Dixon said. “They basically told me, ‘You could go play if you want. Whatever you decide to do is up to you,’ and so I still kept playing, fell in love with it [and] wanted to keep playing.”
Dixon began playing volleyball competitively at age 12, which eventually led her to join the KC Power, a USA Volleyball sanctioned club. At the time, Dixon also attended Louisburg High School in her hometown of Louisburg, Kansas, where she continued to excel.
Dixon tallied more than 2,000 kills, was named a two-time Class 4A Kansas Player of the Year and a finalist for the 2018 Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year in high school. In 2019, Dixon earned a spot on the 2019 USA Volleyball’s Women’s Junior National Team, where she helped Team USA to an eighth-place finish among 16 teams in the 2019 FIVB U20 World Championship.
After her time with Team USA, Dixon began her collegiate career at Kansas State. She continued to grow and met one of her most impactful role models: redshirt senior setter Sarah Dixon.
“[Sarah] was so patient and positive,” Dixon said. “[She was] such a good mentor for me, just teaching me about the game –– teaching me about changing my mentality.”
Sarah Dixon, who began her final season during Anna’s inaugural one, shared similar admiration for Anna and realized the impact she would have on the Wildcats immediately.
“Our first workout, right, you always want to see how the freshmen will do,” Sarah Dixon said. “Anna, she was coming in the top three of every competitive drill we were doing.”
Sarah Dixon’s intuition proved correct. Anna Dixon burst onto the scene and captured Big-12 All-Rookie team honors with a team-leading 2.89 kills per set, which ranked first among all Big-12 freshmen. Anna Dixon began to blossom as a leader that season, too.
“She really wanted to lead, even then, ” Sarah Dixon said. “She wanted to be the leader of the freshmen class.”
Anna Dixon’s leadership stems from her volleyball IQ and skill set, while the addition of her unselfish style of play showcases why she has the intangible qualities of a leader. For Sarah Dixon, one key takeaway from the year she spent with Anna was the mindset she played with.
“It’s really rare where you have someone that can have so much fun and bring this joy and light-hearted spirit, but also can be so focused and have that killer mindset,” Sarah Dixon said. “I just think that is super special about her.”
Following Anna Dixon’s accomplished freshman year at Kansas State, she decided to transfer to Missouri and join head coach Joshua Taylor’s team to help acheive for an SEC title.
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Dixon chose Missouri because of the overseas connections that Taylor and assistant coach Molly Taylor have, and the Tigers could offer the nursing major she desired.
Once volleyball season began, Dixon felt like the perfect fit for the Tigers, too. She earned 2020 All-SEC honors, while recording 273 kills and averaging 3.00 kills per set as a sophomore. Missouri finished 16-8 in 2020 and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Following the season, however, eight members of the NCAA tournament team either transferred or graduated, which introduced Missouri to an influx of youth.
In a matter of months, Dixon went from one of the youngest Tigers to one of six upperclassmen on the roster. Meanwhile, the addition of eight new freshmen meant that over half of the roster had never experienced a collegiate game. Suddenly, Dixon’s emergent leadership skills were put to the test.
“Being one of the older girls [consistently] on the court that has more experience, [my role] is to keep the group calm in pressure situations,” Dixon said.
For freshman middle blocker Kayla Burbage, Dixon’s leadership has helped her improve on the court.
“[Dixon is] definitely very supportive both on and off the court,” Burbage said. “Anything that you need, she’ll reach out and help. From the leadership aspect, she’s somebody everyone needs to look up to, whether you play the position or not.”
Similar to how Sarah Dixon aided her growth, Anna Dixon wants to be a positive mentor for her teammates. Throughout this season, Anna Dixon is the first one to console a teammate after a mistake, but also the first to give encouragement when a play is executed. Her wisdom and experience from the 2020 season has allowed her to impact her teammates on the court. When the young Missouri squad needs it most, Anna Dixon is always there to help.
After losing seven consecutive matches, Missouri entered an Oct. 17 match against the Auburn Tigers looking for its first victory over a Power Five conference opponent. However, this game marked Missouri’s third within five days and came amidst a stretch where Missouri had been swept in four of its past six matches.
Dixon’s veteran impact and presence helped Missouri upset Auburn in five sets. She tallied a career-high 27 kills in the victory with seven of them coming in the fifth set alone. Her poise and will to win gave Missouri an edge over a 11-7 Auburn squad. However, her guidance and encouragement provided the spark that Missouri needed to succeed.
Knotted at 23 late in the first set, freshman outside hitter Kaylee Cox dove to corral an Auburn kill, but couldn’t reach it in time. Dixon responded by helping Cox off the ground and voicing her advice in the huddle. In the moments that followed, Missouri overturned the point and Cox delivered a kill that pushed Auburn to the brink of a first set loss.
When Missouri led 24-22 in the third set, sophomore defensive specialist Emily Brown couldn’t dig an Auburn kill. Right away, Dixon huddled the team up and gave Brown an encouraging high-five. On a similar play in the fourth set, Brown anticipated the attack and provided a dig, which led to a kill by freshman right side hitter Jordan Iliff, bringing Missouri within two points, 12-10.
And in the fifth set, Dixon combined her All-SEC play and leadership mentality to give the Tigers a much-needed victory. With Missouri holding an 8-6 advantage, Auburn called a timeout, which sent Missouri into another huddle near its bench. Dixon used this opportunity to strategize with her teammates before Taylor joined them.
The Tigers ended the game on a 7-5 run, securing their first SEC victory of the season and snapping a seven-game losing streak in the process. With Dixon’s on-court impact, the Tigers overcame moments of weakness and worked through mistakes that had limited them earlier in the season.
This improvement is something that could determine Missouri’s success going forward. If the freshmen continue to give their all and stay positive alongside Dixon, the Tigers hope it will lead to a fruitful second half of the season.
Edited by Kyle Pinnell | kpinnell@themaneater.com