After sitting out her freshman season, Katie Nelson has become a dominant force as a middle blocker.
Katie Nelson is not your average redshirt freshman.
On game days, you can hear her from the top row of The Convo, as her voice echoes throughout the stadium.
It's so loud, coach Deane Webb even tries to stand away from her on the sideline to avoid a headache.
At 6-foot-4, she’s the tallest on the Ohio roster along with freshman Natalie Burchesky. With her arms extended and her feet flat on the ground, her hands can easily hover above the net.
Nelson's height comes from her parents — both athletes themselves. Nelson’s mother played volleyball for the Canadian National Team and her father played four years of professional basketball overseas.
Nelson is also one of a handful of international student-athletes at Ohio. She originally caught the eye of the recruiting staff at a prospects camp in Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Canada about two hours from her hometown of Regina.
After the Bobcats showed interest, she came down to visit Athens where she fell in love with the school and the program.
Despite being a standout during her high school years in Canada, however, Nelson decided to sit out her freshman year, opting to redshirt.
“It was very different because I’m used to being one of the big dogs on the team,” she said. "So last year I had to do a completely different role, where I knew for a fact I wasn’t going to play, but I had to put all my effort in on the bench.”
Nelson said the process of watching from afar helped her gain a different perspective of the game, as after a season out, Nelson was ready to take the court with the rest of her team.
Her transition was helped by a series of spring tournaments the year before, which helped her get a “taste” of collegiate volleyball.
She officially began her collegiate career at the Mortar Board Premier tournament at Purdue. Her first game was a massive success as she had nine kills and five blocks, while leading the team in hitting with a .389 percentage in a sweep of Austin Peay.
She finished up the tournament with a win over VCU, a loss to Purdue and the honor being named to the All-Mortar Board Premier Team alongside senior Shelby Walker.
Three days later in just her fourth-ever collegiate game, Nelson and Ohio upset then-No. 10 Kentucky in Lexington. She was second on the team in kills, blocks and hitting percentage.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="16d91d54-54bd-11e5-b148-6bfa78a24e29"}}
Nelson said she had never received such a big reception after a win.
“It was great,” Nelson said. “A lot of social media after the game, lots of texts, lots of tweets. That was awesome.”
Overall, in her first week of her collegiate experience she's played five teams in last year’s top 60. Per Webb, that’ll only help Nelson and her other teammates grow.
Alongside Webb, assistant coach Ariel Apolinario has helped her transition into a starter, teaching her to slow down what was at first a very fast game for her.
“You grow up functionally fastest when you do it against good teams,” Webb said. “If you grow up against bad teams, you get a very false sense of security.”
Nelson said Webb has pushed her to keep her loud personality.
As the middle blocker, Nelson will be one of the key players at the net for the Bobcats, as she has already shown the presence she brings at both the offensive and defensive ends.
And with her personality and height, it’ll be hard to miss her.
@efelderstien14
ef684013@ohio.edu
