Junior middle blocker Vanessa King (17) and freshman outside hitter Becca Zlabis attempt to block Wisconsin opposite hitter Katherine Dykstra’s hit Saturday evening during the second match at Jenison Field House. The Spartans lost three straight sets to the Badgers.
Going into this season, the MSU volleyball team knew it had two returning starters and a very young team.
The Spartans knew the team’s four incoming freshman would see a lot of playing time and someone on the team would need to step up to be a leader after losing both Katie Johnson and All-American Ashley Schatzle to graduation.
So far this season, that player has been junior middle blocker Vanessa King.
“Vanessa is our leader,” head coach Cathy George said.
“She’s a great attacker, and it doesn’t matter when there’s people that are keying on her; she always finds a way to score.”
Her role in the offense became even more apparent when Big Ten play began as sophomore outside hitter Jenilee Rathje, the team’s leading point scorer, was injured against Ohio State in the first conference game of the season.
King, the only other returning starter, stepped up and not only took over the game, but took over the season. That game she led the team with 13 kills and eight blocks.
“She’s got that mentality and we knew that in high school when we were watching her play,” George said.
“She just has this killer instinct and she continues to go for it.”
But taking over a game isn’t new for King.
As a freshman, she earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors for her dominating performance in an upset of No. 16 Purdue. She had 15 kills and 10 blocks to earn her first career double-double in the game.
That year, King was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team and earned MSU Rookie of the Year honors after posting the second most blocks and blocks per set on the team and fourth most kills and kills per set.
She also was second on the team in hitting percentage.
This year, she has to do the same for the young stars on this team.
“It’s really funny,” King said. “Sometimes when I go out there it’s all freshmen and me. They’re doing really good but us three upperclassmen have to step up and take leadership because they’re all sophomores and freshmen.”
In the absence of Rathje, King has filled in the offensive role on the team, now leading the team in kills, hitting percentage and points. Her .363 hitting percentage ranks seventh in the Big Ten.
“It’s an adjustment, but if we can adjust to (Rathje going down), we’ll be more balanced,” King said.
“Their blockers won’t really know who’s going to get set, because we’ll be more balanced.”
So to make up for the loss, the team has been focusing on offensive production.
“We’ve been talking about when I’m in the front row you always want to go for (the kill),” King said.
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“Be up on transition every ball. We have to put balls down, (Rathje) was a really strong hitter so a lot of people have to step up and be stronger and put balls down.”
But on the defensive side is where she really shines, leading the team in blocks with 80 and blocks per set averaging 1.27. She ranks eighth in the Big Ten and 28th in the nation in blocks per set.
The Spartans, now 11-6 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten, will need to keep looking to their workhorse if they expect to return to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season.
And that’s something they knew had to happen before the season.
