TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — If you look at the Maclay volleyball team's roster, it's a little deceiving. They have a lot of young faces, but everyone on this roster has experience, including a senior class led by four year letter winner Kate Krizner, who's paving the way for her younger teammates.
"One of my friends on the team showed me a video the other day, us as freshman, her as an eighth grader playing together and the difference is insane," she laughed. "It's cool to see the work playing off."
Four years as a varsity starter, and Krizner is reaping the rewards of that work. She's a college recruit and leading this Marauder squad in a successful start to their season.
"I'm honestly not that athletic of a person, so it didn't come as naturally to me," she said of her prowess on the volleyball court. "I'm very tall and lanky and working to get all the skills down and all the footwork and the technique has been a big thing for me."
"When Kate puts her mind to something, there is no stopping her," said head coach Daijah Washington. "She'll do anything and everything down to planning out steps to how she's going to achieve this goal, to visualizing, to executing her plan."
While it's taken some time for that talent to come to light on the court, school has come a bit easier for Krizner. She has a 4.8 GPA.
"I make the correction to Kate and it's almost immediate," said Washington. "Like she said, she's had to work on the athletic part of that because she is so naturally gifted thinking wise."
"I love learning, and I'm very intellectually curious, so it's just fun for me to do," added Krizner.
Fun like leading a talented, young group to what she hopes is a strong finish to her senior season.
"It's my last chance to leave a big impact in Tallahassee and so I want to make sure my senior season is the bet I've had so far."
The best she's had, and she's working hard to make sure that happens. Krizner said she's weighing her options on where she wants to attend college. She said it has to be a strong academic school, and she plans to major in finance and business.
