Te’a Owens offically signs with Point University

After committing to play for Point University back in the fall, Ridgeland’s Te’a Owens made it official on Friday as she signed her letter of intent with the Skyhawks of West Point, Georgia.

“I’m just really excited that all this hard work has paid off,” she explained. “Now I get to go to college, meet new people, have new experiences and keep doing something that I love to do.”

In a program steeped in tradition, the 5-foot-6 senior will graduate from Ridgeland as one of, if not the best, to ever wear a Lady Panther uniform.

She finished her high school career with well over 1,000 career kills, 1,000 career digs and close to 300 career aces. Owens has won area, state and national awards, led her team to a pair of area championships and helped get them to the Class AAAA Elite Eight this past season.

In 2016, she was an Area 6-AAAA first team pick, the area’s choice as its Player of the Year and the Walker County Player of the Year. She was named as the AVCA/MaxPreps National Player of the Week during the season and ended the year as a Georgia Volleyball Coaches Association All-State selection.

Her 561 kills was the thirdmost in the state of Georgia and ranked her in the top 100 nationally in that category, according to stats complied by MaxPreps. Her .583 hitting percentage was third in the nation and she added 483 digs, 98 aces, 26 assists and 16 blocks to round out her year.

“Te’a is really aggressive and just a great all-around player,” said Skyhawks assistant coach and former LaFayette Lady Rambler Jessica Langley. “She can play back row and she can also jump out of the gym. The first time we saw her play, we knew we wanted that girl on our team.”

Ridgeland head coach April Lemonds called Owens “a phenomenal human being”.

“If you could clone Te’a Owens, the world would be a much better place,” Lemonds said. “She’s a born leader, a natural athlete and just a good teammate. She’s one of the best kids you could possibly have because, even as good as she is, she’s still so coachable and wants to learn all she can to get better. I can’t say enough positive things about her.

“She just has an insane vertical (jump) for her size and she can really get over the net and hit the ball hard. She really breaks the stereotype for outside hitters in volleyball.”

Owens said she is excited to be headed to Point and excited to get to continue playing with her Georgia Adrenaline club ball teammate Emma Boles. The Gordon Lee senior is set to sign with the Skyhawks on Monday.

“I ended up going to a tryout with her because I loved it there and it ended up going really well,” Owens added. “We’re also going to be roommates so that will help me to have someone else there that I know.”

Owens plans to study sports medicine and eventually go into physical therapy.