Ever since she began playing High School volleyball, Kara Neisen had a goal to continue her playing career in college. The goal will soon become a reality, as Neisen signed her letter of intent Friday to play volleyball at the College of Coastal Georgia.
“From an early age, I realized I really loved volleyball,” Neisen said, “But once I got to High School, I realized I wanted to continue to play as long as I could.”
When she gets to Georgia she will see a lot of familiar faces, as the head coach is former Tri-Valley coach Jeff Huebner. She will also be back on the court with Tri-Valley graduate Holly Hammer, who Huebner lured to Coastal Georgia last season.
Neisen gives Huebner a lot of credit for developing her love of the game of volleyball.
“Once he showed me a new way of how to play the game is when I realized I wanted to play college volleyball,” Neisen said. “He has a different view of how he wants the team to be. There is a lot of focus on who you are off the court, not just on the court. He wants us to be very close-knit, and I love his passion for the game.”
Even though he coaches in Georgia, Huebner has used his Illinois connections for recruiting. Neisen will be the second Tri-Valley graduate to join the team, along with Hammer. Coastal Georgia also has several players from the Illini Elite volleyball club in Bloomington, where Huebner also used to coach.
Neisen said the familiarity with some of the players and the coach should make the transition to college volleyball much easier.
“I'm joining players I already know about and some who I'm already close with,” she said, “Knowing that is a huge burden off my shoulders. I don't have to worry about fitting in. I can just go and play.”
While she always dreamed of playing in college, the process was often stressful. Neisen said it was hard to get noticed by colleges being at a small school like Tri-Valley. Luckily, though, there was one college coach out there that knew all about Neisen's skills.
And now she has the opportunity to do what she hoped to do since middle school – play college volleyball.
“I went through struggles to try to find somewhere I could keep playing, so this decision today is so relieving,” she said. “It's pretty much the best feeling in the world.”