Taylor Meeks

Sports Editor

Reed Gym was buzzing with nerves, excitement and eagerness as the roster of 17 players rolled into its first practice of the 2019 fall volleyball season under the new direction of head coach Sammi Stuart.

As a way to gauge each of the players skill sets simultaneously, Stuart started the practice with a doubles ladder, a 2-on-2 warm-up drill played on half of a court for a set amount of points or time. Quickly into the drill, senior Haylie Keck grabbed the attention of Stuart.

“During the drill, Haylie kept standing out as this athlete who could play the whole game, and her volleyball IQ was quite high,” said Stuart. “She was swinging hard at the ball, scoring points and, if the goal is to score points and she was doing that, I felt we needed to explore more into moving her to an outside hitter.”

After a quick conversation with the 2018 Big Sky Conference Co-Libero of the Year, the decision was made. Keck hung up her libero jersey and slipped into her new role as an outside hitter for her last season of play.

Keck came in as a freshman in 2016 for the Bengals and immediately began breaking records at the libero position. Before her first season ended, she smashed the single-season dig record of 512 with 599 digs.

In 2017, she boasted 548 digs, and in 2018 she demolished both records with 683 digs in a single season, securing herself in the top three spots in the record books. Keck has amounted 1,830 career digs to claim the number one spot in ISU history and to position herself to break the BSC all-time dig record with just 320 digs left to go.

“Honestly, it’s not something I really focus on,” said Keck. “If I get it, I get it, and if I don’t, it’s not something I am going to be discouraged about or hang my head down because I didn’t get it. Ultimately, I am there to win volleyball games, I’m there to enjoy my experiences and if the accolades and success follows, it follows.”

Returning to the outside hitter position has proved to be a difficult transition for the former libero. Having not played the crucial role since high school, Keck had to readjust to all that the position encompasses, such as more mistakes, a higher number of touches per rally and carrying a point-scoring load.

Despite facing difficulties, Keck has flourished in the challenge and leads the team in kills per set at 2.81 and is second in digs per set at 3.16. Switching to the outside hitter position has also allowed Keck to become a leader by example for the ISU Bengals, something she’s always aspired to achieve.

“When you become an outside hitter, you get a lot more touches, which is the biggest difference in the style of play and trying to find the balance of leading my team by example but also still staying in that vocal leader position,” said Keck. “Ultimately, I think my style of leadership is by example, so it has been easier to lead the way that I want to lead on the outside position whereas it was a little bit harder to lead in the libero position by example.”

Since the standout libero switched positions, sophomore Mahala Bradburn has stepped into the new role for the Bengals. Bradburn leads the team in digs per set at 4.22 with an overall dig count of 291.

“Mahala is doing a good job for us,” said Stuart. “She, as well, was kind of thrown into a different role from day one, but she’s embracing it and learning a ton.”

Despite not boasting the best record at this point in the season, the dynamic of the team has been something it has never been before, according to Keck. Though Stuart came in introducing different techniques and styles of play, the players have been on board and trusting since day one.

Fresh off of a recent win against Portland State last Saturday, the team travels to Montana to battle against University of Montana (Oct. 17) and Montana State (Oct. 19).

“We will always be focused on our process and finely tuning it with the goal of continuing to get better one day at a time,” said Stuart. “We talk about being in the play we are in and not worrying about the last play or the next play. The most important one is the play we are in.”