Murphy Named NHSCA Volleyball Athlete of the Year
Saturday, July 26, 2008 | Volleyball
Freshman Florida setter/right-side hitter Kelly Murphy (Joliet, Ill.) has been named the 2008 recipient of the National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) Volleyball Athlete of the Year award, the Easton, Pa., organization announced.
The National High School Athlete of the Year is selected by a national committee and honors the athlete that serves as a role model for all athletes throughout the country at all levels of competition. The athlete must exemplify a person of good moral character as well as achieving the highest level of success in his/her sport. One athlete per sport from a total of 20 boys and girls sports is honored nationally each year.
Murphy is the second Gator to have earned the award in its history, as former All-America setter Angie McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) received the honor in 2004.
The NHSCA was founded in 1989 as a non-profit organization with the mission of providing leadership and support to high school coaches and administrators, and their programs.
Murphy capped off a spectacular run with her Sports Performance club team this summer, as the squad captured the Junior Volleyball Director's Championship in Louisville, Ky., on June 30. Murphy, and her teammate and incoming Florida freshman Colleen Ward (Naperville, Ill.), went 84-0 since their club team was assembled when its members were 16 years of age. They also captured the AAU 18-and-under open national championship at Disney's Wide World of Sports earlier this month.
Murphy, the 2007-08 Gatorade National Volleyball Player of the Year, just recently returned from the ESPY awards in Los Angeles, where she was a finalist for the Gatorade National High School Athlete of the Year honor.
Murphy is the nation's top recruit, according to PrepVolleyball.com, and is the first player in Florida volleyball history to have won the Gatorade High School National Volleyball Player of the Year award.
Murphy, 6-foot-2, was named the 2007 Chicago Sun-Times Player of the Year and was a three-time Joliet Herald Player of the Year. During her senior season, Murphy helped lead her Joliet Catholic team to a share of the East Suburban Catholic Conference title as well as its fourth consecutive regional crown and its third consecutive sectional championship. She also helped lead the USA Junior National Team to a fourth-place finish at the 2007 FIVB Junior National World Championships, earning the Best Server award in that tournament.
She helped guide Sports Performance to the 18-Open national title at the 2007 Junior Olympics, as well as the 16-Open title in 2005, earning MVP honors at both events. Murphy is a two-time PrepVolleyball.com All-American.
Named one of Volleyball Magazine's 25 Underclassmen to Watch following her junior season, she was one of 15 finalists for PrepVolleyball.com Junior of the Year in 2006, as well as one of 20 final nominees for the organization's Sophomore of the Year award in 2005.
Florida opens its 2008 regular season schedule by hosting the Aquafina Invitational Aug. 29-30, in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The Gators' first match will take place at 7 p.m. ET Aug. 29 vs. UAB.
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