Cusack Goes for SEC Career Digs Record on Friday
Monday, December 7, 2009 | Volleyball
Senior Florida libero Elyse Cusack (Melrose, Fla.) will go for an important milestone on Friday night against No. 1 Penn State.
Cusack, who is the Gators' all-time career digs leader with 2,123 scoops, needs just four more digs to become the Southeastern Conference's all-time career digs leader.
Cusack, 5-foot-8, grew up in the shadows of the Florida volleyball program in nearby Melrose, watching as a young kid and teenager as head coach Mary Wise built a volleyball dynasty in Cusack's own backyard.
Cusack watched a number of great players like Aury Cruz, Jenny Manz, Rachel Engel, Meg Fitzgerald, Jenni Keene and Jane Collymore, each of whom left their marks on the Gator record books, including as some of the program's all-time career digs leaders.
Cusack once said that growing up, she never though she was good enough to have played at the University of Florida, but when Wise was looking at recruiting a libero to her 2006 freshman class, the coach was quoted as saying that she kept coming back to the fact that there wasn't a better player at that position out there in the country.
Good enough to play at Florida, indeed.
Cusack in 2008 became the school's all-time career digs leader and now has 2,123 career scoops, shattering a nearly 22-year-old record held by Lyra Vance. Cusack now ranks at No. 2 on the Southeastern Conference's all-time career digs list.
She became just the third player in league history to reach 2,000 career digs. Arkansas' Ashley Miller (2,126) and Kentucky's Jenni Casper (2,037) are the only players in league history to have posted 2,000 or more digs. Cusack needs four more digs to break Miller's record for first-place all-time.
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