When Colleen Hunter first picked up a volleyball, little did she know that she would become one of the most talked about volleyball players at Saint Louis University.
Hunter had been exposed to the game early on. Both of her parents played for years, and her three sisters also play volleyball. Hunter began playing on a team in fifth grade, and in seventh grade began playing club volleyball.
As a freshman at Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis, Hunter began her freshman year playing on the junior varsity squad before moving up to varsity midseason. Hunter remained at the varsity level for the remaining three and a half seasons at Cor Jesu and was a member of the 1995 Missouri State Championship team.
During high school, Hunter collected scores of honors, including All-Metro, All-Region, All-District, and All-State recognitions. Hunter was also named All-American by USA Volleyball at the 1999 Junior Olympics.
Hunter began making a name for herself as one of the leading hitters at SLU last year as a freshman. Last season, had her career high game for kills against Eastern Illinois, notching 25 kills.
As a freshman, Hunter played primarily as an outside hitter, but moved into the middle hitter spot this season.
“I have to be a lot more aware of what’s going on,” said Hunter. “I have to always know what’s happening on the other side of the court.”
“Colleen’s such an all-around player,” said Coach Nolen. “She doesn’t have a medium speed. She’s such a go-getter, she doesn’t hesitate.”
Hunter reached 30 kills this year against Louisville on September 23 and was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s “30 Kill Club”. Earlier in the season, she was named C-USA Player of the Week. Thirty kills wasn’t enough for Hunter, though. Tuesday night, again against Eastern Illinois, Hunter reached a new career high 38 kills. Hunter broke the school record of 37 kills that was set by Julie Tretten against Louisville on November 21, 1997. Hunter’s 38 kills marks the second-highest kill total in a single match in Conference USA history.
Hunter has proven to be a phenomenal player all around.
“(Colleen) is so focused and always plays at full speed,” said Nolen. “She’s improved so much from being just a front row specialist to being strong all over. She’s our primary passer, our leading blocker, our leading hitter, and our leading server.
Hunter has an overall hitting percentage of .313 and a total of 365 kills this season. She’s claimed 25 service aces this season, and has a blocking average of 1.153 blocks per game.
“Colleen has improved in every category,” said Nolen. “It’s very impressive.”
Hunter and the team began weight training this spring, which Hunter believes has helped her entire game, in addition to individual practices in the spring and summer.
“The whole team is physically stronger,” said Hunter. “We train harder that a lot of teams out there, and we’ve got great team unity. We’ve really come together.”
