Senior libero Kelsey reaching end of impressive career with Lobos
Nothing about living in Albuquerque has worked out like Ashley Kelsey planned.
Neither has playing volleyball at the University of New Mexico, for that matter.
Kelsey will lace up her sneakers today for her final home match at Johnson Center, more than 5½ years after she arrived in New Mexico from her native Ewa Beach, Hawaii. She’ll likely finish third on the program’s career digs list, which illustrates Kelsey’s unlikely journey as well as anything.
She came to UNM as a highly recruited outside hitter who’d never played a match at libero or defensive specialist. But after missing back-to-back seasons because of back-to-back ACL tears, Kelsey threw all expectations out the window.
“The second injury was really hard to cope with,” she said. “I was in a very negative space. I went into (UNM coach Jeff Nelson’s) office and told him, ‘I can’t do all this again. I’m going home.’ I thought I was done with volleyball.”
Nelson disagreed — strongly.
“He told me going home was not an option,” Kelsey said with a laugh. “He basically said, ‘You’re going to graduate from here and you’re going to play. You’ll have to bury me 10 feet under ground before I’ll let you leave.’ ”
Nelson remains above ground and Kelsey is putting the finishing touches on an impressive career. To avoid additional stress on her recovering knee, Kelsey tried her hand at back-row defense during the 2014 season and found it to be a good fit. She’s filled in occasionally at outside hitter since, but has evolved into one of the Mountain West Conference’s best at libero.
“She has great hands and her length really helps her,” Nelson said. “AK (as she’s known by coaches and teammates) has really matured into a great leader for a young team, too.”
Kelsey posted 10 digs in Sunday’s 3-0 sweep of UTEP, giving her 1,499 career digs. That’s five short of Sharon Browning, who amassed 1,504 digs from 1989-92 and ranks third all time at UNM. Kelsey won’t approach Allison Buck’s career mark of 1,630 digs or Gayle Tripp’s second-place total (1,578), but she doesn’t mind.
“I don’t consider myself with Allison Buck or Gayle Tripp,” Kelsey said, “but it’s an honor to be alongside them on the career list. They were awesome defensive players.”
Kelsey admits she’s looking forward to tonight’s Senior Night match against UNLV, though she’ll be the lone member of UNM’s graduating indoor class. Such won’t be the case in the spring, when she’ll be one of several seniors completing their beach volleyball careers — another distinction Kelsey did not expect when she arrived in Albuquerque.
“I never even considered it when I was in Hawaii,” she said. “Now I’m hoping to play professionally. It wouldn’t have happened if people here wouldn’t have believed in me and kept pushing me through. I owe a lot to this place.”
SUNDAY: Victoria Spragg posted team-highs in kills (10) and blocks (7) as the Lobos (15-15) topped UTEP (6-22) by 25-16, 25-16, 28-26 scores. SCHEDULE CONFLICT: Today’s start time directly conflicts with the UNM women’s basketball team’s 7 p.m. home game against Marquette. The conflict was unavoidable, Nelson said, because Mountain West matches are scheduled by the conference, not by home teams.