SE: Flowers Develops Vision to Become Big 12 Leader, Fourth in Nation in Blocks Per Set
Oct 10, 2018 | Volleyball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
There's a video clip from when Macy Flowers came to a K-State volleyball camp as a freshman in high school. Alyssa Schultejans, now her roommate, was there as well. Any time Flowers watches it, or even thinks about it now, she laughs.
"It was terrible," Flowers said, laughing. "I questioned, like, 'How did you even recruit me to come here?'"
Back then, Flowers never envisioned actually playing for K-State — or anywhere, to be honest. Sure, she started going to K-State head coach Suzie Fritz's summer camps in Manhattan in middle school, but, in her words, "I was terrible."
Her bigger motivation then to become a Wildcat was K-State's College of Veterinarian Medicine. Her mother, Leann, graduated from there, runs a veterinary clinic and instilled a love for animals in her middle daughter. Her family kept as many as eight dogs around the house at one time. They also had or showed horses, goats, sheep, bucket calves and chickens.
In short, Flowers, who now has a pet gecko, kitten and Australian Shepherd aptly named Wilson, knew she wanted to become a veterinarian before she realized volleyball might help her get there.
Yet here she is, a senior for the Wildcats playing the best volleyball of her life. She's also on track to graduate this December as at least a two-time First Team Academic All-Big 12 honoree.
This season, the 6-foot-3 Chanute native has performed at a level that's allowed her to be mentioned among the best middle blockers not only in the Big 12 but also the country. Going into Wednesday's home battle against Iowa State, Flowers ranks first in the Big 12 and fourth in the NCAA with a blocks-per-set rate of 1.60.
The difference, she said, has ironically been her vision, seeing what's coming before it happens. Her ability to use her eyes to anticipate where the ball is going to go on the other side of the net has never been better. She credited assistant coach Trent Sorensen, who works mainly with the middle blockers, for her progress in this area.
"Trent's worked with the middles a lot with our eyes and our hands, and that really helps because a perfect pass situation is pretty hard to read but it helps a lot if you can slow it down with your eyes," she said. "The setter will give you signs of where to go put your hands and where to go. Trent's been really good about that."
Flowers is coming off a 10-block performance against Texas Tech, which followed an eight-block outing in four sets against TCU. This season, she has recorded seven or more blocks in six matches. For comparison, she had done that 10 times in her three previous seasons combined.
It's hard to point to a turning point, Flowers said, in regards to her blocking ability. She knows experience has played a role, as has the depth at the position, which includes viable options in Peyton Williams, Elle Sandbothe and Zsofia Gyimes.
All four middles push each other, Flowers said, and keep each other locked in when they rotate in and out of matches.
"The middles, especially, are really good about when you come off the court of saying, 'Hey, this is what you can do. This is open. You can do this shot, or dive into that girl's cutback.' I'd say that really helps to stay engaged on the court and off the court," Flower said. "We're older, too. We've been here. We're experienced. That, for sure, helps because there are some things that you don't see on the court that people off the court see."
With 11 matches left in the regular season, Flowers' blocks-per-set average would top K-State's record books, if it stands – Kelsey Chipman currently holds the top mark at 1.47. Not that Flowers is aware of any of it. If not for her younger sister sending her a text, Flowers said she never would have realized she was the Big 12's leader in that category.
"I'm not a huge person that pays attention to that kind of thing," she said. "So I was, like, 'Well, that's pretty cool, I guess.'"
Again, it goes back to vision. Flowers said she's seeing the other side of the net at an instinctive level.
"In practice we slow it down quite a bit and it's just middles making reads and you have to make a good read and you have to have good feet and good hands," Flowers said. "That really helps because that all comes back to your eyes."
There's a video clip from when Macy Flowers came to a K-State volleyball camp as a freshman in high school. Alyssa Schultejans, now her roommate, was there as well. Any time Flowers watches it, or even thinks about it now, she laughs.
"It was terrible," Flowers said, laughing. "I questioned, like, 'How did you even recruit me to come here?'"
Back then, Flowers never envisioned actually playing for K-State — or anywhere, to be honest. Sure, she started going to K-State head coach Suzie Fritz's summer camps in Manhattan in middle school, but, in her words, "I was terrible."
Her bigger motivation then to become a Wildcat was K-State's College of Veterinarian Medicine. Her mother, Leann, graduated from there, runs a veterinary clinic and instilled a love for animals in her middle daughter. Her family kept as many as eight dogs around the house at one time. They also had or showed horses, goats, sheep, bucket calves and chickens.
In short, Flowers, who now has a pet gecko, kitten and Australian Shepherd aptly named Wilson, knew she wanted to become a veterinarian before she realized volleyball might help her get there.
Yet here she is, a senior for the Wildcats playing the best volleyball of her life. She's also on track to graduate this December as at least a two-time First Team Academic All-Big 12 honoree.
This season, the 6-foot-3 Chanute native has performed at a level that's allowed her to be mentioned among the best middle blockers not only in the Big 12 but also the country. Going into Wednesday's home battle against Iowa State, Flowers ranks first in the Big 12 and fourth in the NCAA with a blocks-per-set rate of 1.60.
4??th in the nation.
— K-State Volleyball (@KStateVB) October 10, 2018
Macy and her 1.6 blocks per set among the best in Division I. #KStateVB pic.twitter.com/VoDCJLzXzV
The difference, she said, has ironically been her vision, seeing what's coming before it happens. Her ability to use her eyes to anticipate where the ball is going to go on the other side of the net has never been better. She credited assistant coach Trent Sorensen, who works mainly with the middle blockers, for her progress in this area.
"Trent's worked with the middles a lot with our eyes and our hands, and that really helps because a perfect pass situation is pretty hard to read but it helps a lot if you can slow it down with your eyes," she said. "The setter will give you signs of where to go put your hands and where to go. Trent's been really good about that."
Flowers is coming off a 10-block performance against Texas Tech, which followed an eight-block outing in four sets against TCU. This season, she has recorded seven or more blocks in six matches. For comparison, she had done that 10 times in her three previous seasons combined.
It's hard to point to a turning point, Flowers said, in regards to her blocking ability. She knows experience has played a role, as has the depth at the position, which includes viable options in Peyton Williams, Elle Sandbothe and Zsofia Gyimes.
All four middles push each other, Flowers said, and keep each other locked in when they rotate in and out of matches.
"The middles, especially, are really good about when you come off the court of saying, 'Hey, this is what you can do. This is open. You can do this shot, or dive into that girl's cutback.' I'd say that really helps to stay engaged on the court and off the court," Flower said. "We're older, too. We've been here. We're experienced. That, for sure, helps because there are some things that you don't see on the court that people off the court see."
With 11 matches left in the regular season, Flowers' blocks-per-set average would top K-State's record books, if it stands – Kelsey Chipman currently holds the top mark at 1.47. Not that Flowers is aware of any of it. If not for her younger sister sending her a text, Flowers said she never would have realized she was the Big 12's leader in that category.
"I'm not a huge person that pays attention to that kind of thing," she said. "So I was, like, 'Well, that's pretty cool, I guess.'"
Again, it goes back to vision. Flowers said she's seeing the other side of the net at an instinctive level.
"In practice we slow it down quite a bit and it's just middles making reads and you have to make a good read and you have to have good feet and good hands," Flowers said. "That really helps because that all comes back to your eyes."
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