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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Mountain Brook’s Paige Parant (21) plays the ball during a match at the 2022 state tournament.
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Photo by Kyle Parmley.
Mountain Brook's Hannah Parant (1) sets during a match between Mountain Brook and Spanish Fort on Aug. 24 at Spartan Arena.
One question sends Paige and Hannah Parant into a frenzied discussion.
“How many balls has Hannah set to Paige over a lifetime?”
For context, Paige and Hannah are twins and senior volleyball players at Mountain Brook High School. Paige is an outside hitter, and Hannah is a setter, meaning the two are perfect partners for practices and game action.
The answers thrown out by the duo vary in an extreme manner; 75,000 feels too low, but 1 million seems high.
The consensus is somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million sets from Hannah to Paige over the years. Their head coach, Mattie Gardner, provides the best answer to the question.
“A lot is the answer,” she said.
Another question that the two get asked often is, “What’s it like being a twin?” That one also generates some lively discussion. Of course, they squabble like any other siblings or twins.
But they also have a deep understanding of each other as a result. They know what makes the other frustrated. They understand and desire their space at times.
“It doesn’t feel different, because that’s all we know,” Paige said.
As with any other set of twins, they do plenty of things together. But they also have varying interests. Paige is a co-editor of the student newspaper at MBHS. Hannah works at the elementary school through the iLearn program.
On the court, Gardner preaches the benefits of the Parants working together. The only way Hannah earns an assist on a set to Paige is if Paige then earns a kill. Vice versa, Paige is unable to earn a kill without a solid set from Hannah.
The Spartans have been working on a new tempo with their outside hitters. Naturally, the first hitter Hannah got up to speed with was Paige.
“I do think it has something to do with the twin thing,” Gardner said.
Gardner said they are similar but different in many respects. They think about the game of volleyball on a deep level, after having played it for about 10 years now. But she knows she needs to coach each of them differently.
“With Hannah, you can be on her every point talking and she responds best to that. But Paige likes space. Paige doesn’t need you talking to her all the time. But both respond really well,” Gardner said.
Seniors are servants
Mountain Brook’s volleyball team has one of the most unique rosters to be found. There are two sets of senior twins, with Annie and Mae Mae Lacey joining the Parants. Ava Gillis and Alice Garzon are also seniors, giving Mountain Brook six seniors.
Gardner puts a heavy emphasis on the senior class in her program.
“I really challenge the senior class and leadership team. You’re servants. You’re servant leaders. In here, it’s reversed. I expect the least out of our freshmen and the most out of our seniors,” she said.
This fall, Hannah Parant, Garzon and Gillis are the leadership team (some would call them captains). Paige Parant never applied for the leadership team, a measure that seemed odd on the surface. But she had a good reason — one that certainly impressed her coaches.
“I didn’t think it was completely fair for me to ask for that position and not be able to be there all the time for the team,” she said, noting a conflict she had with volleyball and her student newspaper class.
The six seniors have all known each other for several years, many of them playing youth soccer together and participating in other activities throughout elementary and middle school.
Paige and Hannah realize this fall will likely be the final chance they get to play on a team together, and they hope to make the most of it.
Hannah’s recruiting process has been settled, as she committed to play at the University of Alabama in April. Paige has decided she wants to play in college and is sorting through her options.
In the future, Hannah wants to be a coach after her playing days are over, although sports management also intrigues her. Paige has medical school aspirations.
‘Want’
The Spartans were not happy without how last season ended, as their run of three straight state championship titles ended in the state tournament.
We already had that natural chemistry, and normally that’s a hard thing to work on. But since it’s already there, as long as we keep being consistent and trusting our training … we’ll be good.
Paige Parant
That has motivated the returning group not to let anything stand in the way of getting back to that level once more.
“Want is one of our main words,” Hannah said. “The biggest thing is the ‘want’ of the final goal. We want to win so bad, and every single day, we’re going to push as hard as we can.”
“We already had that natural chemistry, and normally that’s a hard thing to work on,” Paige added. “But since it’s already there, as long as we keep being consistent and trusting our training … we’ll be good.”
Hannah was the starting setter for the state championship teams of 2020 and 2021 as a freshman and sophomore. Paige has been on the varsity team since she was a sophomore, so the duo has shared several different perspectives throughout their careers.
Paige watched Hannah win it all in 2020. They shared winning it all in 2021. They shared falling short at state in 2022.
There’s one more question for them to answer. What would the moment be like if they won it all in 2023?
“I always think about what it would be like to win one more time,” Paige said. “I feel like if we did, we would first look at each other before the team.
“It’s a special bond.”
