Decatur Senior Autumn Finney Makes Incredible Flying Save

Decatur Senior Autumn Finney Makes Incredible Flying Save

Decatur High School senior Autumn Finney just shocked the world with a superhero save.

Oct 22, 2017 by Megan Kaplon
Decatur Senior Autumn Finney Makes Incredible Flying Save
On Friday night, the Decatur High School girls volleyball team traveled to Krum High School, just outside of Denton, Texas, for its second-to-last regular season match of the season.

With Decatur leading 22-17 in the third set, Krum took a big swing out of the middle, and Decatur defender Mallory Downe was only able to get one hand on the ball. It ricocheted toward the back of the court, and libero Tayte Helton dove to keep it alive.

Enter Autumn Finney, a senior outside hitter, who sprinted from her position in the front row, leapt over Helton, who was still on the ground, and flew through the air was one-armed the ball back over the net from at least 30 feet away.

With the crowd and Decatur's bench losing their minds, play continued. Krum's middle took another swing, and Finney made another diving save, and on Decatur's attack, Krum's blockers were in the net, giving Decatur a much-deserved point.


Adding to the drama, Finney played her first three years of high school volleyball at Krum High School, but transferred to Decatur last spring.

Finney is also a member of the track team at Decatur, and she won the 9-4A title in long jump this year and helped the 4x100 team set a new school record and win the league title. 

In an interview with the Wise County Messenger in September, Decatur head volleyball coach Clark Oberle said this of Finney: "She's a spark plug. She gets super fired up and brings out the best in everyone."

Finney's epic save has gone viral, and earned her many admirers, including Kerri Walsh Jennings, who tweeted not once, not twice, but ​four times about the high school senior.

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/kerrileewalsh/status/921871550135001088" hide_media="0" hide_thread="0"]
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/kerrileewalsh/status/921871742989099008" hide_media="0" hide_thread="0"]
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/kerrileewalsh/status/921876039852113920" hide_media="0" hide_thread="0"]



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