Ventura County Star honors Kylie McLogan

Outside hitter named top County College Fall Female Athlete

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Powered by Kylie McLogan’s All-American season, the Regals reached the NCAA Division III national title game and set a single-season program record for wins (35).

 

Photo: Tracy Maple

Kylie McLogan knew it was over.

Although she had one year of athletic eligibility remaining, McLogan knew the 2013 volleyball season would be her last.

The Cal Lutheran outside hitter wanted to leave with no regrets, and fell only a few points shy of a perfect ending.

Powered by McLogan’s All-American season, the Regals reached the NCAA Division III national title game and set a single-season program record for wins (35).

McLogan bettered her own single-season program record for kills with 520 to become CLU’s career kills leader with 1,421 in only three seasons.

“I really couldn’t have asked for a better final season,” McLogan said. “We had been thinking about being in the national championship for so long and to have finally gotten there and been able to play in such a great match with a massive crowd was amazing. It was a really great way for me to wrap up my volleyball career in general.”

McLogan, 22, did in three seasons what most players never accomplish in four.

The Upland native was a two-time first-team All-American and a three-time All-West Region selection. Along with her records for kills, McLogan ranks fifth all-time at CLU in digs with 1,056.

“It was never a conscious effort in my mind to break records. I never kept track of those things and never knew I did it until someone told me,” McLogan said. “It’s nice to have those things to look back on, but at the end of the day the things I will remember most is the time spent with the girls and the friends I made. That is far more important to me than my name being on a plaque for holding some record.”

The only way McLogan’s career could have ended any better would have been if CLU captured the national title.

But the third-ranked Regals lost to No. 1 Calvin in a thrilling five-set match in Michigan. CLU won the first two sets before Calvin rallied for a 20-25, 12-25, 25-22, 25-17, 20-18 victory in front of a crowd of 3,356.

McLogan finished the final match of her CLU career with 28 kills and 26 digs.

“Her performance in the playoffs this year, starting with the SCIAC tournament, was impressive. She was dominant at all levels and I believe played the best match of her career in the national championship,” CLU head coach Kellee Roesel said. “What more can you really ask or want for a kid? It is a performance that she and I had talked about ever since she came to Cal Lu.”

Although CLU came so close to an NCAA title, McLogan never considered changing her mind and returning for another season.

“It’s always going to be bittersweet, but looking back and knowing we gave our best effort and did everything we could makes it hard to be upset,” McLogan said. “It came down to just two points really and it could have been anyone’s game at that point. We really wanted to win the championship, but to have been able to spend that amount of time with the girls and play the best volleyball of our lives together was really important.”

Roesel calls McLogan the most complete player she’s ever coached, and knows the Regals can’t replace everything she brought to the program.

“Kids like Kylie are why I coach. You see potential greatness in a kid; you push and push, and ask more and more. She fights it, finally gives in and becomes the player and leader you knew she could be,” Roesel said. “It doesn’t happen all that often, but that kid turned out to be the best outside hitter in Cal Lutheran history. I feel blessed to have had the privilege to coach her. I know that she is one of the most beautifully talented young women I will ever know.”

McLogan is on track to graduate in the spring with a communications degree and plans to serve an internship either close to home or abroad.

Although competitive volleyball won’t be in her future, she will always hold tight to the memories of the past.

“I am just excited to engross myself in other hobbies that I really enjoy like music and dancing that I haven’t had time for with volleyball and school,” McLogan said. “It’s a different sense of freedom, and I am ready to explore other opportunities. I loved every second of playing at CLU, but it’s time to for me to move on.”

- Published in the Ventura County Star on Jan. 12, 2014

 

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