Hey everybody! In case you missed last week's post, the Friday interview series has begun and this week's edition features Western Kentucky defensive specialists Sarah Rogers and Ashley Potts, as well as Lady Topper setter Melanie Stutsman. Considering there were three separate interviews with these girls, I'm going to split them up a little and feed you all a little background info on each of them.
What made you want to play in college?
"Ever since I was little, I've always strived to be on the better team and get to the next level. My high school coach Ron Kordes pushed me to be better every single day, and eventually I came to the realization that I had the abilities to play in college."
What's your favorite part/least favorite part about being a college athlete?
"My favorite part is having a community amongst the athletes. There is a great support group here with my coaches and teammates, and it's been like a family for me since day one. My least favorite thing would have to be that I don't have the time to experience the other activities on campus, like big football games and tailgates."
What is your favorite activity outside of volleyball?
"Being able to relax with my teammates. Volleyball is serious and fun at the same time, but being able to be calm and just hang out and laugh with each other is great."
What has surprised you so far this season? Either about your team or another?
"We're off to a really good start, and we haven't won a Sun Belt regular season title with any of our current seniors, and this year I think we have a really good chance at winning it. Normally our offense has been what carries us and helps us win matches, but this year it's been the defense in almost every single game. Some games we've had a really low hitting percentage, but with the defense this year, we've been able to hold the other team to a low one as well. It's kind of amazing to see how much our defense has helped us this year. In my freshman and sophomore years, there was a lot of offense and now with the role reversals, it's exciting to see it all come together for us."
Now second, meet sophomore Ashley Potts. Like Rogers, Ashley made an immediate impact her freshman year by appearing in all of the team's 121 sets. She currently leads the Toppers in digs with 310 through 19 games, and at 5'4", she is the only Topper without a kill so far this season, which all of us are hoping will come at some point. In high school, Potts was a stellar player for Sacred Heart Academy in Louisville, being honored with All-State Tournament and All-Region awards her junior and senior years.
What made you want to play in college?
"My sister Kelly [Potts] (the WKU record-holder of most played sets) had a big influence on me, and I've been playing since kindergarten, so it's always been my dream to play at this level."
What's your favorite part/least favorite part about being a college athlete?
"Missing class all the time, because we travel almost every Thursday and Friday, so it's hard to make up the work, but the teachers understand. And as for my favorite part, it would probably be being a part of the athletic community here, and being able to compete at this level"
What do people need to know about Western that makes them different from any other team?
"The team here is like a huge family. I know I can talk to my coach about pretty much anything, and all my teammates are like my sisters. Most of my friends that I talk to (players at other schools) don't have the same relationship with their coach as we do, so everyone else that I've talked to is kind of jealous of what we have with our coach [Travis Hudson]."
What was your favorite highlight from last season?
"Probably playing with my sister all year, but also getting to go to the NCAA Tournament. The initial dream is to be able to play at this level, and then the next dream is to make the tournament, and being able to do that in my freshman year was pretty cool."
What's it like playing against old friends?
"It's not too different, because in high school I was always playing against my friends. It's definitely fun though, because we got to travel to Lipscomb, and we got to see our friends from home."
Last, but certainly not least, let me introduce you to Melanie Stutsman. You may have heard her name before, because last season, Melanie made the AVCA All-American Honorable Mention list, while also accruing All-South Region team, second team All-Sun Belt Conference, SBC Freshman of the Year, and South Region Freshman of the Year honors. Currently, Stutsman leads the 17-2 Toppers with 708 assists and 27 service aces, while having played in all 65 sets thus far.
What made you want to play in college?
"It was always a dream of mine when I was little. I always watched it on TV, and I always wanted to play at the big schools."
What's your favorite part/least favorite part about being a college athlete?
"My least favorite part is having to miss class, having to do the extra work, and not being there for lessons and stuff. My favorite part is that everything is done for you, like with food, books, travel, etc., it takes a lot of stress off of our shoulders, and I've talked to other people who don't have that luxury, so that's nice. Also being able to go places and see things, like when we went to Washington D.C. earlier this year for the American Classic."
Do you or your team have any rituals before games or anything?
"Nothing really that out of the ordinary, mainly just hanging out in the locker room and listening to music, basically getting ourselves pumped up for the game."
What was your highlight from last season?
"Probably going to the NCAA Tournament. It was a really cool experience, and hopefully we get can make it there again this year!"
What are you looking forward to for the rest of the season?
"I'm really looking forward to seeing us go out and compete in every game we play, because we haven't won a regular season conference title in like seven years. So it'd be awesome if we could win that, but I'm looking forward to going out and competing like we have to win every game, because we set a goal for 16-0."
What's your favorite activity outside of volleyball?
"Just chilling and relaxing when I get the chance, because normally there's always homework, practicing, or having to work out."
What do people need to know about Western that makes them different from any other team?
"No matter what, we're always going to keep coming at you. In every situation where we've lost the first game in a match, we've come back to win. We're persistent and resilient, we'll always keep fighting.
Are there any surprises from the season thus far?
"In the non-conference season, I think we surprised a lot of people by going 13-1. We had originally said if we could be 10-4, that would be good, but here we are. We all knew we could do it if we put our minds to it, and we were able to beat some really good teams."
Western currently sits one spot outside of the AVCA Coaches Top 25 with a school record 53 votes. Sadly though, they dropped just their second game of the season this past week, falling to Middle Tennessee in four sets, but the Lady Toppers are hoping to rebound tonight with home game against Troy at 8:00 EST. I wish them the best of luck with the continuing season, and I'd like to give special thanks to these three wonderful ladies, and also to WKU volleyball SID Melissa Anderson for making these interviews possible. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, feel free to e-mail me at jonathan.ketterer@avca.org. Thanks for reading!
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