Interview Series: Part 3, with Xavier's Kelsey Dunaway

Welcome back to the Friday blog, where this week I will be sharing with you all another interview, this time with Xavier Musketeer outside hitter Kelsey Dunaway. Kelsey is a sophomore from Sacred Heart Academy in Louisville, Kentucky. In high school, Kelsey was named to the all-district team three times, as well as being named to the All-Region, All-State, and All-State Tournament teams during her senior year. In both 2007 and 2009, she was picked for AAU All-American squads while playing for the Mid-America Volleyball Association, where she was instrumental to the team's excellent play in the '07, '08, and '09 seasons.Another interesting note about Kelsey is that in 2006 she graduated with Lipscomb middle blocker Sarah Ulinski and I from St. Martha grade school in Louisville. Enough with the background information though, take a look at how she responded to some of my questions.

How's the season going so far?


It's going great, We have won all of our games in conference except for one, against [George Washington]. We're looking really good, and we're running a new system, and I think we can win the A-10 and get a shot at the NCAA Tournament.

What do you attribute the team's struggles on the road to?


It hurts not having the fan support and having other fans scream at you. It also is kind of rough not having any friends or family there. And this weekend we play at Dayton, so that should be a pretty tough environment.

Does the travel bother you all?


It's not that bad, but it mainly comes down to falling behind in our classes. It's stressful mentally, especially at the beginning of the season when it felt like we were missing every Thursday and Friday class for a whole month.

Speaking of travel, have you gotten to go anywhere exciting?


We got to go to Michigan and then Maryland was pretty fun. Houston was pretty cool too, until we got one of our vans robbed while we were at breakfast.

How was it getting to play former teammate Ashley Potts at WKU?


It was so much fun playing Ashley, it's so awesome when you get to play people you knew in high school, and with Ashley it was great considering our MAVA (Mid-America Volleyball Association) vs. KIVA (Kentucky-Indiana Volleyball Academy) rivalry and that we played at Sacred Heart together.

What would you say is your favorite/least favorite part about being a student-athlete?


My favorite part would have to be being on a team. I love all of my teammates; we hang out together, we go out together, and we play together. Plus all of our coaches are fairly young, so I feel like that does a lot for our team chemistry. One just graduated from college, one is two years out, and then our head coach isn't even 30 yet. So I feel like we have a different relationship with them than most players have with their coaches.

My least favorite part would have to be missing so much school that I have to do make up work for and then having to miss social life on the weekends.

What made you choose Xavier for college?


I chose Xavier because I liked all of the girls on the team. At first, I wasn't sold on the small campus feel, but when I came back and spent a night with the team, I loved it. It was great to know that these girls are just like me, they were so nice and so much fun, and I really felt welcome.

Where do you see yourself in five years?


Five years from now I'd like to be teaching the first grade and coaching a club team in either Cincinnati or Louisville.

What made you want to major in childhood education?


I really love children, and I wanted to help them and be a big part of someone's life. I feel like giving children the foundation for their education is a big thing, and I want to be a part of that.

What would you say to young girls who have aspirations to play in college?


I would tell them to keep working hard, and to make sure they love it. You also need to make sure you're having fun with it, and especially when you're young, because that's when it's the most fun.

What has been the highlight of the season so far?


I think the way we have dealt with adversity has been excellent. It's almost like any player on the team can play any position and you have a good feeling they will perform well. It's awesome to see how versatile our team has become in the past year, especially with the injuries that have occurred.

What are you looking forward to the most for the rest of the season?


What I'm most looking forward to would have to be beating everyone on the rest of our schedule, and having the chance to win the A-10 and go to the tournament, which hopefully we can go really far in.

Kelsey and the Xavier Musketeers will face in-state and conference rival Dayton tonight in Dayton, Ohio. I would like to wish Kelsey and her team the best of luck with tonight's big game and for the rest of the season, and special thanks to Kelsey and her sports information director Jessica Souto for making this interview possible. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, feel free to e-mail me at jonathan.ketterer@avca.org. Thanks for reading!