Throughout her volleyball career, Paige Flickinger has been told that she’s not tall enough to compete at the highest levels as a hitter. And yet, time after time, the Trophy City, Texas, native has proven those naysayers wrong. 

The Paige Flickinger File

Position: Outside Hitter

Height: 5-10 

Hometown: Trophy City, Texas

High School: Byron Nelson

Club: Texas Advantage

College Commitment: LSU

The 5-10 outside hitter has relied on speed, precision, and explosiveness instead of height to collect 2,264 kills in her four-year varsity career at Byron Nelson High School.

“(The key to my success has been) never listening when someone tells me I can’t do something,” Flickinger said. “Most of my volleyball career I have been told that because of my size, I wouldn’t be able to hit throughout my club years and surely not in college. Instead of listening to what those people said, I used it as motivation to work that much harder.”

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The Dallas Morning News' volleyball Player of the Year: Trophy Club Byron Nelson's @paigeflick_! ?

Get to know the LSU signee a little better and read up on her season: https://t.co/ICPzOy2wR4#txhsvolleyball pic.twitter.com/2eicXUbbja

— SportsDayHS (@SportsDayHS) December 9, 2019

But as much attention as she’s gotten for her offensive prowess, the First Team Under Armour All-American always highlights passing as the most important skill in an outside hitter’s arsenal. 

Watch Paige Flickinger in action at the 2019 Under Armour High School All-America Match, streaming live right here on FloVolleyball, Dec. 31 at 7 PM ET.

“My advice to young girls would be to practice passing as much as possible,” she said. “Passing is one of the most important skills in volleyball and in most cases, it can be the thing that sets you apart from another player.”

In 2018, Flickinger earned the title of Texas Gatorade Player of the Year. Over the summer, she won a USA Volleyball Junior Nationals title with her TAV 17 Black team, and this fall during the high school season, she led Byron Nelson to a 50-2 record and a Class 6A state championship with 797 kills (hitting .346!) and 813 digs. Byron Nelson was dubbed the No. 1 high school team in the country by USA Today.

As long as she doesn’t get burned out, that kid is going to go places,” Byron Nelson head coach I have no doubt in my mind that she can train with the national team, she can be on the national team, she can go play professionally overseas or even the AVP tour. She’s that good.”

Unable to choose between her two loves—indoor volleyball and beach volleyball—Flickinger will attend LSU in the fall where she’ll be a member of both teams.