The Times Girls Volleyball Player of the Year: Versatility the key for Marquette’s Kaylee Killelea

Having a volleyball player like Kaylee Killelea at your disposal is like going camping with a Swiss Army knife.

Whatever the problem, whatever the need, whatever the scenario, the Marquette Academy senior always seemed to be the right tool to solve it.

In her fourth year as a starter for the Crusaders, Killelea was always right there to slice an opponent apart with her pinpoint passing, to corkscrew an ace to give her team a point, to scissor a slam between a pair of much taller blockers.

Essentially, everything she did on the court made the others around her better for it, and that’s why she’s The Times 2022 Girls Volleyball Player of the Year.

The numbers bear out her versatility. For her senior season, Killelea posted 485 assists, hammered out 149 kills, brought up 84 digs and served up 39 aces in leading the Crusaders to a school-record 32-7 record, the Tri-County Conference regular-season and tournament championships and the Class 1A Aurora Christian Regional title.

She also was named the Tri-County Conference Player of the Year and was a unanimous first team selection.

“Versatility is the biggest thing she brings to our team and to the program in general, that she is literally a jack-of-all-trades,” Marquette coach Mindy McConnaughhay said. “She’s so coachable, plus she’s a smart hitter, and she’s a super smart setter. She sees what will work and controls the offense. And she blocked so well, too.

“Really, all the aspects of her game were strong this year, and it seemed every time we needed a big serve or a big kill, she was up or we gave her the ball, and she’d deliver.

“She doesn’t show a lot of emotion, no matter what was going on, so she was a calming factor for everyone. … She played fearlessly a lot this year, and that was really, really cool.”

“Going in, it was a little scary knowing that Mindy had me both setting and hitting [full-time],” Killelea said. “She felt I could do it, and I trusted her, and it worked out great. By hitting, it helped me see more of what hitters would do when I’m playing defense, when they’re hitting the ball at me. … I’m most comfortable setting. I’ve been doing that since seventh grade, so it was a little scary when she told me I was gonna hit … but I like the change. I feel pretty good about how I played.

“I’m more comfortable mentally playing the game now than when I was a freshman or sophomore, and I know that keeping a positive attitude helps the team.”

Much of that fearlessness comes from her intelligence – she is an Illinois State Scholar with a 4.23 GPA – and having performed on the big stage in the past. She starred for the Marquette Illinois Elementary School Association State champion softball squad in 2018 and both hit and pitched the softball Crusaders to a 1A supersectional as a sophomore.

But she didn’t emerge as the complete volleyball player she is now until midway through last season, when McConnaughhay added another setter, sophomore Maera Jimenez, to allow Killelea the opportunity to swing outside on a regular basis. She ended up one of the team’s leading hitters, but their 24-10 season came to an abrupt end with a 25-21, 26-24 loss to St. Bede in the Henry-Senachwine Regional’s first round.

This season, virtually everyone returned from that team – including fellow seniors and softball teammates Eva McCallum, Lindsey Kaufmann, Emma and Nora Rinearson – and it showed from the very start. Sort of.

After losing their first two matches to Lexington and Newark, the Crusaders got on a roll, winning the next 10 and 19 of the next 21 matches. Included in that run were a first-place finish at the Ridgeview Invite and a second-place result at the Harvard Invite.

Marquette then battled its way to the Tri-County Conference Tournament championship, the No. 1 seed besting No. 3-seeded Seneca 26-24, 25-22 in the final at Seneca, a match Killelea felt was the team’s best of the season. It then completed its regular-season title with wins over Lowpoint-Washburn and Dwight.

“Last year, we went in really young,” Killelea said, “but this year we went in with a lot more experience, we all clicked, we all liked each other. There was no drama. Everybody played, and we got used to seeing each other and learned what each of us could do.

“I think this season was more than we expected, the seniors going out with a regional championship and a conference championship. We had high hopes going into our senior year, and we couldn’t have asked for a better one.”