Super League round 6 preview - Allen hopes Eagles can soar after bright start

The now 26-year-old American was an impressionable teenager when some of her babysitters would hit a ball around with her, and suggested she give it a go. 

The Malory Eagles UEL number 4 did just that and, after cultivating a successful college career with the University of California Santa Barbara, she has moved to the UK and been an equally impressive performer in recent seasons. 

The hard-hitting outside, who occasionally plays opposite, remembers fondly her introduction to the sport that has enabled her to travel halfway around the world. 

“When I was younger my sister (Emily) and I used to have babysitters who were on the college team in our home town – I think our neighbour was a friend of the team’s coach. 

“Some of them used to get out a volleyball and play with us and said we should try out for our high school team, which is how it started. 

“I started playing when I was 13. Both my sister and I were playing football at the time, but I was already super-tall for my age and I had much more of a natural advantage in that than playing a sport with my feet! 

“I quickly fell in love with it. My first year of playing was definitely on a recreational level, but in the second year I played for my high school (San Marcos, California), which was mainly matches in California and occasionally in Arizona as we tried to qualify for the Junior Nationals and Junior Olympics. 

“There were a couple of other players who went on to play college volleyball, so we had a pretty good team and I enjoyed it.” 

At UC Santa Barbara, Chloe was a regular part of the team for four years during her studies, aside from ‘a couple of injuries’ which set her back. 

At first she was not looking to travel overseas to continue her playing journey – initially planning to go to New York – but then the stars aligned for her to move to London. 

She said: “I was going to get my masters in the US, but I couldn’t transfer to a lower division school to play. At the same time, I only had one year of eligibility to complete it, so I had to look at other options. 

“So when they reached out to see if I would be interested in coming to the UK to complete my studies at UEL and carrying on playing volleyball... it seemed the best of both worlds. 

“It has been an experience I probably otherwise wouldn’t have had because the regular route for immigration is so extensive if you are not a student.”

Unfortunately for Chloe, her arrival in England coincided with the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic, meaning her initial experience of university and club volleyball was not what she might have expected. 

But she has subsequently become an integral part of the Malory team in the MAAREE Women’s Super League after competing her studies in Business Administration and is now bidding to apply for permanent residency, having successfully transition from a marketing role to one in sports insurance. 

“I was the first in my class to arrive as an international student and it was a strange time, especially when I had moved from another country and I was looking forward to meeting people and being part of a new social network,” said Chloe. 

“Fortunately, two of the people who were in my class I still live with now and we have all become great friends. 

“I think we had to practice just six at a time and be two metres apart – that kind of thing – and I think that lasted for about a month of training before the restrictions eased. 

“In many ways, coming to UEL during Covid made it not so miserable because I was doing and experiencing something totally different.” 

Last season, Malory made it through to the Final 4 Weekend in April, where they lost to eventual winners Durham Palatinates in the semi-finals. 

In the bronze medal match that followed, the Eagles appeared to be down and out as they trailed 2-0 in sets, but they refused to buckle and eventually completed a reverse sweep to claim a memorable 3-2 victory. 

The Londoners have so far carried that momentum into the new season, with three victories out of three with straight sets victories against Wessex, the University of Nottingham (at Opening Weekend) and Cambridge ARU. 

Chloe is optimistic the team can keep their good start going, helped by having a relatively settled squad and good competition for starting places. 

She said: “Can we keep up how we have started? I would like to say that, yes, we can. 

“We have a super-strong starting line-up, but we also have a really strong bench, which is probably one of our biggest positives. 

“A lot of the teams can struggle if their starters can’t play, because life can get in the way and people can’t play every match, but we have two or three players in every position who can come in and do a good job for us. 

“We are also in a fortunate position in that a lot of our players do return year on year, at least they have for the last couple of years, which helps with the cohesion. 

“We do have a couple of new players, but they have worked really hard to fit in quickly and Grace Lazard has moved back to middle, which, while it is her best position, takes a little bit of time to get up to full speed, so there is even more to come from her, as well as she has played so far.” 

This weekend, the Eagles make the short trip to Mulberry Shoreditch Academy to face a resurgent Lionhearts Vinarius side.  

After escaping relegation through the play-offs at the end of last season – beating NVL Division 1 Stockport to retain their top-flight status – they have enjoyed a much brighter start to the new campaign, with a 4-2 record after their first six matches.   

Chloe knows Saturday’s match (6pm first serve) will be a good barometer of where the team stands for the rest of the 2024-25 season. 

“The Lionhearts have performed really well and have had some good results, especially compared to last year,” she said. 

“Playing them is something we have thought about and are preparing for. We know this could be the toughest match of our season so far. 

“There are some familiar faces in their team, some who have joined them for this season, so we know what we are going to come up against. 

“I think how we go in this match will be a telling sign of how we can approach the rest of the season and we believe in ourselves that we can get the result we want.” 

Chloe has observed the standard of the competition with interest since arriving from the United States, where the sport is much more engrained in the national psyche, particularly on the women’s side. 

But she says there are signs of gradual improvement this side of the pond and is hoping that will continue into the future. 

Chloe said: “I feel things are improving across the board. Although the top sides have tended to be the same over the past few years, I think that gap is closing and more sides are now being competitive, as you are seeing with Lionhearts. 

“Alongside that, the marketing of the league has improved and is now more like what you would see in the professional game or from big college teams in the States. 

“That’s good to see as we want to get more people involved and playing in the long-term, as well as coming along to watch matches.” 

Super League images by Nathaniel Macrae

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