No DeKalb school has won a volleyball title. Could Stephenson be a contender?
The Stephenson volleyball team is learning firsthand about how difficult it is to join the state’s best programs. But the undaunted Jaguars retain high aspirations and hope to one day bring DeKalb County its first state volleyball title.
Stephenson is trying to build on the most successful season since it began the sport. The Jaguars advanced to the state playoffs in 2013, 2021, 2022 and 2024, but last year won their first-round playoff match for the first time.
In 2025 the Jaguars entered the Class 3A playoffs as the No. 9 seed and defeated Long County 3-1. They lost the next round to No. 8 seeded LaFayette and finished 25-7.
This year in Class 4A, Stephenson set the tone for the 2026 season by winning the DeKalb County Spikefest Volleyball Bracket at Miller Grove for the second straight year and for the third time overall. The Jags are 24-3, losing only to No. 1-ranked Westminster, the Weber School and fellow DeKalb competitor Arabia Mountain. Stephenson is No. 9 in the GHSA PSR standings, which takes both winning percentage and strength of schedule into consideration.
“Right now we’re building them up to get confidence,” coach Clinnette Moon said. “You play Westminster and get beat bad, it’s really tough. Then the next game we beat somebody 25-3. They weren’t all doing their jobs, so it gives us what we need to work on, what we need to look at.”
The Jaguars took a big step forward in 2020 when Moon took over as head coach. Moon grew up in Cleveland, Tennessee, playing basketball, volleyball and track, and was an all-SWAC thrower in college at Alabama State. But she loved playing volleyball and was eager to get back into the sport when the opportunity to coach came around.
Moon brought many of the missing elements of success along with her. Her experience, along with the program reaping the benefits of a successful middle school team, helped push the Jaguars forward.
“Everybody is coming with some knowledge vs. me having to start from the ground up,” Moon said. “Now we have middle school teams, and I’ve got girls that already know how to pass. I don’t have to teach as much.”
The team is led by veterans Zoe Lubrin, Gabbi Jackson and Makayla Thomas.
Lubrin, the MVP of the Spikefest Tournament, played setter last year and has been moved to outside for her sophomore season.
“She is an amazing kid,” Moon said. “When she walked in as a freshman, I was like, ‘Look at God looking out for me again.’ She can see the court and she can play any position I need her to. She can go.”
Jackson, a junior, plays outside and handles a key leadership role.
“If she’s not there you can really tell the difference,” Moon said. “She’s my communicator. You’ve got to talk to win and she’ll tell them, ‘Hey, stay right there or go further or get to the left.’ You’ve got to have girls like that.”
Thomas, a junior, is the captain in her second season at the school. (Her father, William Thomas, is the head boys basketball coach.) Thomas plays the middle and would like to play at the next level.
“She says she wants to get some scholarship offers, so she’s got to put in scholarship work,” Moon said.
Stephenson has only a handful of matches before the state playoffs begin on Oct. 17. The championships will be Oct. 31.
In the meantime, the Jaguars will continue to create bonds on the team and build its program from the inside.
“We just need to keep doing what we’re doing,” Moon said. “They played a bunch of tournaments this summer, and they’re just getting that knowledge to them that they hadn’t seen before.”