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Allison Stark, a junior right-side hitter from Mount Vernon, Iowa, has orally committed to the Illinois volleyball team.

The 6-foot-1 left-hander was selected by Prepvolleyball.com in December as one of the top 50 players in the Class of 2011. After leading Mount Vernon to the Iowa Class 2A state title in November, Stark was named to The Des Moines Register's six-player Elite All-State Team. She averaged 2.7 kills and 1.9 digs per set and hit .447 last season.

A member of the Iowa City-based Iowa Rockets club team, Stark earned MVP honors in 2008 at the USA Volleyball Junior Olympic 15-and-under national tournament. Rockets coach David Rodgers has worked with Stark for the last six years.

"Her serving is awesome, her serve-receive is awesome, her defense is good and her attacking is very good as well as her blocking," he said. "We rely on her very much."

Stark is the third junior to commit to the UI, joining middle blocker Morganne Criswell of Decatur Lutheran and outside hitter Jocelynn Birks of LaGrange Lyons. Coach Kevin Hambly also has one sophomore commitment: setter Alexis Viliunas of Lyons.