Known affectionately to her teammates as “KK,” senior setter Katie Kaysinger started playing volleyball when she was 10 years old and has been playing ever since.
Kaysinger was introduced to the sport of volleyball by her father. Ever since then volleyball has been a part of her everyday life.
As far as her position is concerned, Kaysinger has always been a setter. She played that position all throughout school except for one year.
“It’s my favorite position, I wouldn’t want to do anything else,” she said. “I was a middle blocker in … sixth grade, but that doesn’t really count.”
During her high school career, Kaysinger played club volleyball, where she met Chris Miller, one of the assistant coaches for the Portland State volleyball team. Miller was Kaysinger’s club coach and when high school was over, Kaysinger followed Miller to PSU.
Portland State was also a prime choice for Kaysinger, who liked how close it was to her family. She grew up in the Portland area and attended Central Catholic High School.
Kaysinger is majoring in biology and later hopes to earn her masters in nutrition.
“I want to become a registered dietician,” she said.
Some might think that college volleyball consumes all of the player’s time. To an extent it does, but when Kaysinger has a few extra minutes, she loves to cook as well as sail.
“I like sailing a lot,” she said. “I want to sail around the world in a couple years.”
During the off-season, Kaysinger tries to work out as much as possible. Running is her favorite activity, but lately with volleyball and schoolwork requiring most of her time, she hasn’t been able to run as much as she would like.
Unfortunately, Kaysinger was out of commission for about three weeks due to a concussion she received earlier in the season. But she was able to work through it and finished the year where she feels most at home: on the court.
Reminiscing, Kaysinger feels that her college career has been well worth it. She also feels that her senior year, in particular, was extremely fun.
“It’s had its up and downs,” she said. “Looking back, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Kaysinger’s job as a setter is not an easy one. It requires a lot of hustle and leadership.
“You touch every second ball and in doing that, you have a lot of say in the way the game goes,” she said. “You’re not going to win a game for anyone, but you can lose it.”
The 5-foot-9 setter from Brush Prairie, Wash. will most surely be missed by her teammates as she provided them over the years with leadership, laughs and just a plain old good time. For Kaysinger, it is now on to bigger and better things.