Spartans Seeking to Send Senior Keith Out On High Note
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
SOLON – Grace Keith knows her days as a volleyball player are numbered.
Sometime in the few weeks the Solon senior will play the final match of her high school career and when she does she will walk away from the sport she’s played since she was seven.
The goal for Keith and her Solon teammates over the next month is to extend her time on the volleyball court as long as possible.
“I want to keep it going as long as we can and I think we have the potential to do great things,” Keith said. “But everything comes to an end and that’s the way I looked at it.”
That starts on Wednesday when Solon (15-20) faces No. 13 West Liberty (20-13) in a Class 3A Region 7 quarterfinal at 7 p.m. in West Liberty.
“We definitely want her to end on a good note that’s for sure,” Solon junior Rachael Nelson said of Keith. “We have made lots of progress this year from the past two so we are hoping to get farther than we have in the past and keep her playing as long as we can.”
Make no mistake Keith loves volleyball and has since she started playing in elementary school.
She was good at it too, very good in fact.
Keith caught the eye of college coaches as a freshman when she hammered 178 kills as a freshman on Solon’s Class 3A state title team in 2014.
She missed most of her sophomore season with an ankle injury but returned to post 172 kills on her way to all-WAMAC honors last season.
At 5-foot-9 Keith has the size and athleticism college coaches covet.
After years of playing volleyball nearly year-round Keith determined before her senior year that her final season at Solon would be her final season of volleyball
“I thought about it for years,” Keith said of playing college volleyball. “I played super high-level volleyball and at the end of the day you have to decide if it’s worth it. I just didn’t think it was for me.”
The final season of volleyball for Keith has been her finest.
She leads Solon with a career-high 231 kills and ranks second on the team with 263 digs.
The most valuable contributions from Keith this season aren’t measured in stats.
“She is just such a good leader,” coach Sarah Ferin said. “She helps direct traffic, she leads the tempo and the mood and she is also even keel and someone for our kids to talk to.”
For Nelson and other Solon players Keith is more than a great player on the court or a leader off it, she’s a friend.
Someone Nelson says that any player on the team can approach about anything.
“The idea of not having her next year is heart-dropping,” Nelson said. “She’s always been that one player that you can turn to if you are upset or sad or need something outside of volleyball and on top of that she’s an outstanding player.”
Knowing her time on the court is coming to an end, this season has been special to Keith.
A four-year starter who was a huge part of the Solon volleyball program Keith has tried to pass on her knowledge to a roster full of young players.
“It does mean a lot to me, I love being out there with my girls,” Keith said. “It’s awesome to be out there and I can be a leader and hopefully they look up to me on the court. That’s my goal.”
Keith hasn’t ironed out her college plans perfectly yet. She might go to UNI or could end up at the University of Mississippi.
She hasn’t chosen a major yet but wants to somehow keep athletics in her life.
“Sport Psychology maybe, something in the athletic field that works with people,” Keith said. “If I coach volleyball one day you never know.”
Before she worries about her future, Keith is focused on the present and possible postseason run.
It won’t be easy for Solon which opens with a talented West Liberty team with a possible match with seventh-ranked Davenport Assumption (22-8) waiting in the regional semifinals.
“We have West Liberty and we played them my sophomore year and it was kind of a rough game,” Keith said. “I think it’s a new year for us. I think we have a lot of potential to be a powerhouse on our side of the bracket.”