FCA holds all-night volleyball event Saturday

Confident Kolek leads Marquette to 2 seed

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Tyler Kolek adopted the acuity and audacity that defines his game with every bruise he took playing against his older brother while growing up in Rhode Island.

Kolek was two years younger than his brother, Brandon, but wanted to prove he was every bit as good. The two brothers stopped playing one-oneone by the time they reached high school since each matchup inevitably ended with a scuffle.

“We were both really competitive,” recalled Brandon Kolek, who just finished his final season at Division II school Franklin Pierce. “I’d be bigger than him so I would post him up, and he would get mad that I’m doing that and he can’t stop it. So a couple of punches are thrown, a couple of elbows are thrown and it would just turn to an all-out fight after that.”

Kolek’s fearlessness has been a hallmark of Marquette’s

stunningly successful season.

The approach also helped Kolek develop from a mid-major prospect into the Big East player of the year who led Marquette to its first Big East outright regular-season title and tournament championship since joining the conference for the 2005-06 season. Now he wants to help Marquette get beyond the opening round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013.

Marquette (28-6) is the No. 2 seed in the East Region and faces Vermont (23-10) on Friday.

“I’ve just got to be a chipon-my-shoulder kind of guy,” Kolek said. “That’s where I feel like it comes from. Just being that underdog, that under-recruited guy, you’ve got to have some gumption to you.”

Kolek definitely has that. It was apparent well before the season.

When he was asked at Big East media day what he thought about the league’s coaches picking Marquette to finish ninth out of 11 teams, Kolek offered a twoword response. The second word was an abbreviated version of “them.” The first word was an expletive.

“I thought that was hilarious,” his brother said. “It just goes to show who he is. He doesn’t really care about what anybody says. He’s going to do what he’s got to do, no matter what.”

Kolek has the game to back up his bravado.

Staff Photo/Skyler Mitchell skill levels playing The Fellowship of Christian Athletes held an all-night volleyball event at Memorial High School Saturday, with students of varying against each other for most of the night.