Nov. 15, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - By: Kelsey Detweiler
Penn State Athletic Communications
After a big weekend on the road against Michigan and Michigan State, Katie Slay is beginning to really make a name for herself.
The freshman middle hitter stands at 6'6, taller than any of her fellow teammates. Slay has started to use her height and powerful arm swing to become both a defensive and an offensive threat for the Nittany Lions.
Katie was born in Plano, Texas, and she and her family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina when she was about four years old. She grew up in North Carolina and attended Wakefield High School where she was well known for her talent on and off of the volleyball court.
Slay was a four-year varsity letter winner and two-year captain of the volleyball team at Wakefield, and led the rest of her squad to the state playoffs all four years she was there. Slay also led the team in kills for three years, and topped the charts defensively as she led her team in blocks all four years.
Because of her outstanding play in high school, Slay was awarded a long list of awards and honors for volleyball. Just to name a few, she was named to the AVCA/Under Armour First Team, one to watch for on ESPN RISE, earned the status of a Volleyball Magazine and Prepvolleyball.com High School All-American and was even named to the USA Women's Junior National Team her sophomore and junior year of high school.
But even so, outside of the gym Katie was earning awards for her hard work in the classroom. She was a four-year member of the Wakefield High School Honor Roll, a member of the National Honors Society and of the National English Honor Society.
Being as humble as she is, Katie said that all of these accolades are flattering to say the least, but they seemed to be cancelled out by the talent and accomplishments of her teammates when she came to PSU.
"Those are all really exciting accomplishments to get because we all really work hard but basically all of the freshmen coming in had those same awards so it just made the competition in preseason and practice that much more exciting and that much tougher," said Slay. "Since we all have those awards it's really about what you do once you get to college."
Katie said that her transfer from high school to college as a student-athlete has been a smooth one, but she attributes a lot of the cohesive move to specific aspects of Penn State volleyball.
"From high school to college it's been really exciting," said Slay. "It's definitely not the same and it's a greater intensity level, but the girls on our team and the seniors, they really help us out a lot making the transition and being away from home. Then, since we already are so tight knit as friends, when we get on the court it's just even more fun."
Watching a Penn State match or sitting in on a practice, one can definitely see that Katie is all about having a good time. She is always smiling and encouraging her teammates, something that she said was instilled in her by the rest of her team and her head coach Russ Rose. Katie is also one of the few girls that will dance and move to the beat of the Penn State warm-up tape before almost every match.
According to Rose, Katie is one of those players that have a lot of potential to become one of the greats, and he hope she does so in the near future.
"Katie is one of our most engaging and enthusiastic kids," said Rose. "She's a terrific blocker. She's smart and a great team player. I don't think you're ever at a disadvantage when you have someone who can block the ball the way she does."
Rose trusted in Katie's skills so much that he made the decision to use to her against Michigan and Michigan State on the road. Slay proved to be more than impressive. Penn State faced Michigan on November 5 and defeated the Wolverines in a 3-0 sweep. Katie led the defense with a personal-best ten blocks and had a few memorable kills on offense.
Slay was happy to help her teammates out, and even more excited to get back out on the court to play in a crucial match.
"We were tied with Michigan at second so, it was important for us to come out with wins and it's always especially difficult playing on the road so we knew we needed to play together," said Slay. "As far as my play, I thought I just wanted to go in there and help out the team. I hadn't played in a while, but I was excited to get the opportunity to help out the team and I just wanted to go in there a get some big blocks because I knew that's where I could contribute the most."
And that's exactly what she did. Slay's outstanding weekend earned her the honors of Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
"It's definitely a confidence boost because I wanted to be able to contribute to the team and show that I can help the team out, but I have to keep it up through the next couple weeks," said Slay. "That includes getting in the gym and working hard every day because you can do it once, but you have to do it again and again and again."
Although Slay and the Nittany Lions know that nothing is ever certain when it comes to coach Rose and his line-up, Slay has definitely shown what she can do on the court.
Slay said that being a Nittany Lion and being a part of the Penn State tradition is something special and different from any other team. She said that she is merely lucky enough to be a part of it all.
"I just think we have chemistry together, a connection," said Slay. "And you know all teams have a connection, but it's just so different here. The atmosphere in the gym is really fun. We look forward to coming to practice and we like to joke a lot, but we're also working hard in the gym so it just makes it such an exciting atmosphere and really fun to work hard every day."