Mosley's Michelle Mask named Coach of the Year, Alsyia Fingall Player of the Year in 5A
Mosley High School coach Michelle Mask and player Alsyia Fingall have both earned postseason honors in being named the Florida Dairy Farmers 5A Coach and Player of the Year for the 2021 season.
Mask, in her ninth season as coach at the school, helped lead the Dolphins to a 23-8 record and the program's first-ever state championship after beating Merritt Island in five sets in the state final.
Fingall, a 5-foot-10 junior outside hitter, led Mosley with 304 kills and 604 serve receives while also adding 489 digs, 51 blocks, and 40 service aces.
"I thought this was cool because it was voted on by a bunch of people that really don't know me or my kids," Mask said of the award. "It's just based on performance and I thought that was super cool. It means a lot, we worked really hard. Mosley has went through a lot in the last three, four, five years, and me personally with what I went through with this program dating back to when my son got cancer. It's been a rough four years for me personally and for not just Mosley but Bay County.
"To win state and win this honor, I'm just humbled by it and it means a lot because lord knows we've worked our tails off for it."
Fingall was in her first season with the Dolphins after transferring in from from Prattville (Ala.) and made an immediate impact. It shouldn't come as a surprise given her family pedigree, with her father a former college basketball player at George Mason, and her sisters, Nadia and Morghan, being Division-I athletes as well at Stanford and Tennessee for basketball and volleyball, respectively.
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"I probably had six or eight kids that all could've been Player of the Year, but Alysia is special," Mask said. "She comes from a family of athletes. I knew she was special the moment she stepped into the gym and I met her family. They truly understand what it takes to be an elite athlete. Alysia understands the work that it takes, not just during the season, but in the offseason.
"Alysia is bought into it. She understands that if you do what everybody else does then you're average, but it takes that extra effort to be elite and she does it. She believes in it and her family believes in it and it shows with her getting this honor. It's just proof that the hard work and the extra work definitely pays off."
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL: Mosley's Mask, Fingall earn Coach, Player of the Year honors
