Gators' Murphy Motivated By Winning
Thursday, September 30, 2010 | Volleyball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The first recruiting letter arrived early in Kelly Murphy's freshman year of high school. It was from Penn State, one of the nation's premier volleyball programs.
Around that time is when Sandy Murphy, Kelly's mom, first realized that the oldest of her three daughters was developing into something special on the court.
A short while later, it really hit home to Sandy at a tournament Kelly's club team in the Chicago area was playing in. Sandy, a former player at Illinois State and a longtime high school coach, was coaching a team that Kelly's younger sister, Jennifer, played on. After Jennifer's game ended, Sandy walked to the other side of the convention center where the tournament was being held in to see if she could find Kelly's game.
“I was walking to get there in time, and the closer I got, I noticed there was this massive crowd around the court,'' Sandy said. “I was like, 'Wow, who is playing there? That must be some California team warming up or something.' As I got closer and closer, I started trying to figure out which court was Kelly's.
“Well, it was Kelly's court. They were swarmed around there. The [college] coaches were probably three rows deep around that court to watch Kelly play. I just shook my head.''
And true to form, Kelly paid no attention to the circus around her.
“Kelly was just playing absolutely oblivious to the whole thing,'' Sandy said. “She was just playing because she wanted to win.''
A right-side/setter, Kelly is now a junior at UF and one of Gators volleyball coach Mary Wise's star pupils. The Gators (10-1) are ranked No. 2 in the nation – their highest regular-season ranking in 13 years – and Murphy has played a starring role as Florida prepare to face LSU at home on Friday night.
She is tied for the national lead with four triple-doubles and leads UF with 5.48 assists and 3.07 kills per set. She also has a .355 hitting percentage, good for fifth in the Southeastern Conference.
In many ways, Murphy is the player that sets the tone for the Gators.
“There are certain players who have talents that are not coachable,'' Wise said. “We didn't teach that. She came to us with that. One thing she has is great court vision.''
Wise then shared a story about a hit Murphy made in last week's win at Florida State.
As opponents usually do, the Seminoles were double-teaming Murphy at the net. Wise told Murphy the Gators needed a different kind of shot from her since FSU was so focused on defending her at the point of attack.
“She hit a ball that landed about three feet from the net,'' Wise said in a voice of disbelief. “Truly, that's a swing you would mainly see from a guy.''
As teammate Callie Rivers took the ball and prepared to serve, Wise chuckled at what she saw.
“I could read her lips, 'I cannot believe what I just saw,' '' Wise said of Rivers' reaction. “Those are the plays that Kelly can make, where we all just shake our heads and go, 'OK, that's pretty good.' She is a unique talent because of her ability to hit and set.''
As for Murphy herself, don't expect to her to get too wound up off the court or for her to sing her own praises. She much prefers to talk about others than herself. She has been that way since first starting to tag along to Sandy's practices as a toddler.
By the time she was 6, Kelly would practice with the high school team Sandy coached for fun.
“It was just kind of something I had always been around,'' Murphy said. “I started playing officially on a team when I was 11. I played a bunch of other sports, but I was always best at volleyball.''
Once Murphy hit high-school age, she enrolled at Joliet Catholic Academy, about a half-hour from her small hometown of Wilmington, Ill. At Joliet, she blossomed into the Gatorade National Player of the Year in 2007 and opted to play for the Gators as one of Wise's top recruits in her 20 seasons leading the program.
“Things that Kelly can do on the court amaze me all the time,'' said freshman teammate Chanel Brown said. “She is able to create shots and make plays none of us expect. You can just tell she pours out her heart into volleyball and into the team.''
On the court, Murphy turns into a force that can single-handedly take over a match. Off the court, she is quiet and polite, content reading a good book or listening to music while others dominate the conversation.
“She has always been a pretty quiet and shy kid, never wanting the limelight or being the center of attention,'' said Sandy Murphy, who played against Wise in college when she was at Illinois State and Wise was at Purdue. “She never was an attention seeker and still isn't to this day.''
When asked about the transformation that washes over her once she steps onto the court, Murphy flashes a shy grin. Then she gives a simple answer.
“I just know that I love winning and I hate losing, so if the difference is to get better in every area every day, that motivates me,'' she said.
That sounds about right to her mom.
“Even playing Candy Land as a little kid she hated to lose,'' Sandy said.
