Having family members playing volleyball was inspirational to Millis’ Morgan Kane and when it came time to enter the middle school, she decided to give the sport a shot.
“My cousins had always played, as well as my older sister Molly,” she said. “In seventh grade, I gave it a shot, and after that first pass, I fell in love with the game and have been playing it since.”
Now in her senior year, Kane finds herself as a captain for the Mohawk varsity volleyball team as an outside hitter. Since her freshman campaign, she has found herself on the varsity team, but it took her some time to earn a starting spot on the court.
Having an older sister already on the team put pressure on Kane to make the team as a freshman,
“My sister made varsity as a freshman, so I wanted to do the same,” Kane said. “During freshman tryouts, I found myself very nervous. In fact, I still get nervous every year during tryouts, as you never know what type of talent is coming in looking to take you spot on the court.”
A setter in middle school, Kane moved to right side hitter before landing in her current position.
“In high school, I’d play wherever I was needed. I’d play a lot on the right side as that was the side I use to set on, but as soon as the team had enough setters I moved to outside hitter,” she said. “Outside hitter is much more fun as it’s a little bit of everything, and I can see much more of the court.”
Kane remembers her first varsity match like it was yesterday. She recalls although being very excited to take the court for the first time, she could see the discreet looks she was getting for some of the opposition girls due to her size.
“Being the smallest girl on the court (Kane is 5’3”) gave me motivation. Not only did I have to get the ball over the net, but the taller blockers on the other side as well,” Kane said. “I also run sprints and do the high jump for the track team, so it helped me with my explosiveness in jumping.”
Coach Lisa Farese knew that Kane would make a good captain, as she displayed leadership and dedication to the sport over the past three seasons.
“Morgan works very hard on the court while working on improving her technique off the court,” Farese said. “As a junior, she was not always starting on the varsity team, so she took it upon herself to play with the JV team to improve those skills.”
The Mohawk Coach believes that the senior outside hitter has become more consistent with her game, as well as being aggressive and less hesitant. According to Farese, Kane doesn’t have a best part of her game. Instead, she is good at everything, especially the little things that helps make her teammates better.
As she plays in her final season with the high school team, Kane wants to keep improving her hitting and continue to jump higher. For the team, she is looking to get back into the tournament and improve upon last year’s Division 3 Central Quarter Finals loss to Nipmuc, after sending the number two seed, Worcester Tech, home in the first round.
Although volleyball is a team sport, Kane considers much of it to be individual, “just you and the ball.” She is hoping next fall she’ll play volleyball in college.
“It’s been tough to get recruited because of my size, but I do want to keep playing,” she said. “If I go to a Division 1 school, I’ll probably just play club volleyball, but if go to a division 2 or 3 school, I should be able to play.”
Through the early part of the season, the senior captain finds herself leading the team in aces and is third in kills.
Issue Date:
November, 2018
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