SE: Dixon to Leave Lasting Impact on K-State Volleyball
Nov 20, 2019 | Volleyball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
K-State volleyball senior Sarah Dixon's first visit to Manhattan did not go as planned.
Her flight was delayed. She was forced to re-route into Kansas City. She rolled into Manhattan at around 2 a.m. It was also during finals week. Still, she left the hectic trip with a positive outlook.
Dixon loved hearing about K-State's film review system, how it allows players to watch every practice and games almost immediately afterward. She became enamored with the limestone look of K-State's campus.
Plus, Dixon, a transfer out of Arizona, also had just finished her finals. So, she understood how crazy that time period is for student-athletes. Yet, when K-State head coach Suzie Fritz asked players to come in to see Dixon, not one hesitated.
"They all came," Dixon said. "So, that was something that stood out to me."
Dixon's career at K-State followed a similar storyline to her visit — not how she envisioned but positive, nonetheless.
The team's lone NCAA Tournament appearance in her K-State career came during her redshirt season in 2016. Last year, the Wildcats were one of the first few teams left out of the postseason. This season, with 13 underclassmen, there have been plenty of growing pains, as K-State (8-17, 3-10) enters its final pair of home matches this week with Oklahoma on Wednesday and Baylor on Saturday.
Dixon, who will be one of three Wildcats (Mckenzi Weber and Peyton Williams) honored for Senior Day on Saturday, will leave a similar impact to what she found on her visit. Like those former Wildcats showed up during finals week to meet her, she's tried to show up in so many ways for her teammates, even if it's required her to check her personal expectations at times.
"She just wants to make sure that, from here on, she helps them see what they need to do in the future," Fritz said of her senior setter. "We probably won't see the dividends from her leadership until maybe two years from now, but she's given the young players a voice, she has been wonderfully positive through what has been a challenging season as a senior, and I think she has just found a way to have really good perspective on the importance of being a good teammate.
"When you say, 'What do you think she leaves behind?' I think she's the epitome of work ethic and positive selfless leadership. I think she's been the epitome of what it is to be a great teammate."
One highlight of Dixon's selflessness has been how she's handled a different role recently.
Coming off a season that earned her AVCA All-America Honorable Mention and All-Midwest Region First Team honors, she's embraced K-State's switch from a 5-1 rotation to a 6-2. The attempt to generate more offense put Dixon, the Big 12's leader in assists per set (11.21) last season, in a shared setter role with true freshman Teana Adams-Kaonohi.
She's done so with a focus on making the most of the situation.
"I think it goes in part with my growth and maturity as a player. I've kind of learned, 'OK, how can I maximize my potential, whether I'm in a 6-2 or a 5-1, and how can I lead?'" she said. "It really has been challenging, but in a good way, to see if I can still be an effective leader when I'm not always on the floor and I'm not always running the offense, primarily."
Among her long list of lessons at K-State, Dixon said embracing change and patience sit near the top. Adaptability became a part of her, helping overcome frustrations from changed plans.
"Life is going to throw so many different things at you and when I was younger I thought, 'If I do all these things it will lead me here,' but now I realize there are just a bunch of different paths in life and sometimes it's not the right path or the wrong path," she said, "it's just which one do I want in that moment."
Which required some serious growth from Dixon.
A self-described perfectionist, she used to have her mother film her playing so she could have a way to dissect her errors and make improvement. It's no wonder K-State's film system helped sell her on the program four years ago.
A four-time Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll member and two-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree, Dixon has avoided average at all costs and in all phases of her life. But she's also learned to be flexible, and that success can look differently than what she knew prior.
"When I was younger, I took everything very seriously," she said. "I'm a very high achiever, so I was, like, 'OK, I need to be excelling on the court. I need to be excelling in my relationships…' and sometimes you can't have it all at once."
So, Dixon has focused her efforts on developing consistency in what she can control. Namely, her effort and her attitude.
"Being one of the oldest players on the team and one of the only oldest players on the team, it was a big deal for me to be a good role model, to be a good example and really help the young ones grow and mature both as players and as people," Dixon said. "That really, honestly, helped me become comfortable with who I am. In order to be an effective leader, you need to know who you are, thoroughly, and know what you stand for, know what you believe in and really walk the talk. I think leading by example but also with my words has been something that's really been an emphasis for me this year.
"Just learning to be consistent with who I am and showing up every single day with the same type of attitude and mentality, I think that really creates an environment that I would hope for my teammates, so every day I strive to come in the same so my teammates know what they're going to get from me."
It's not gone unnoticed.
"I feel like she has helped develop a positive culture on the court," freshman outside hitter Anna Dixon, no relation, said of Sarah Dixon. "She's always talking and encouraging her teammates, even if we're like in a deep hole or not getting what we want out of the game or a certain situation. She's definitely been our go-to positive idol on the court."
Fritz emphatically agreed.
"She wants to be really good, but she wants all of her teammates to be really good, too, whether it be now or later. I think that's where she's just been incredible this year as a senior," Fritz said. "She, by far, has the strongest vocal presence of anybody on the team. She tries really hard to set higher expectations and try to get people to meet them. She's the one that talks in the huddle. She's the one that talks after the matches, and she did it all summer, too. She's the one who ran the open gyms. Her voice is really strong."
K-State volleyball senior Sarah Dixon's first visit to Manhattan did not go as planned.
Her flight was delayed. She was forced to re-route into Kansas City. She rolled into Manhattan at around 2 a.m. It was also during finals week. Still, she left the hectic trip with a positive outlook.
Dixon loved hearing about K-State's film review system, how it allows players to watch every practice and games almost immediately afterward. She became enamored with the limestone look of K-State's campus.
Plus, Dixon, a transfer out of Arizona, also had just finished her finals. So, she understood how crazy that time period is for student-athletes. Yet, when K-State head coach Suzie Fritz asked players to come in to see Dixon, not one hesitated.
"They all came," Dixon said. "So, that was something that stood out to me."
Dixon's career at K-State followed a similar storyline to her visit — not how she envisioned but positive, nonetheless.
The team's lone NCAA Tournament appearance in her K-State career came during her redshirt season in 2016. Last year, the Wildcats were one of the first few teams left out of the postseason. This season, with 13 underclassmen, there have been plenty of growing pains, as K-State (8-17, 3-10) enters its final pair of home matches this week with Oklahoma on Wednesday and Baylor on Saturday.
Dixon, who will be one of three Wildcats (Mckenzi Weber and Peyton Williams) honored for Senior Day on Saturday, will leave a similar impact to what she found on her visit. Like those former Wildcats showed up during finals week to meet her, she's tried to show up in so many ways for her teammates, even if it's required her to check her personal expectations at times.
"She just wants to make sure that, from here on, she helps them see what they need to do in the future," Fritz said of her senior setter. "We probably won't see the dividends from her leadership until maybe two years from now, but she's given the young players a voice, she has been wonderfully positive through what has been a challenging season as a senior, and I think she has just found a way to have really good perspective on the importance of being a good teammate.
"When you say, 'What do you think she leaves behind?' I think she's the epitome of work ethic and positive selfless leadership. I think she's been the epitome of what it is to be a great teammate."
One highlight of Dixon's selflessness has been how she's handled a different role recently.
Coming off a season that earned her AVCA All-America Honorable Mention and All-Midwest Region First Team honors, she's embraced K-State's switch from a 5-1 rotation to a 6-2. The attempt to generate more offense put Dixon, the Big 12's leader in assists per set (11.21) last season, in a shared setter role with true freshman Teana Adams-Kaonohi.
She's done so with a focus on making the most of the situation.
"I think it goes in part with my growth and maturity as a player. I've kind of learned, 'OK, how can I maximize my potential, whether I'm in a 6-2 or a 5-1, and how can I lead?'" she said. "It really has been challenging, but in a good way, to see if I can still be an effective leader when I'm not always on the floor and I'm not always running the offense, primarily."
Among her long list of lessons at K-State, Dixon said embracing change and patience sit near the top. Adaptability became a part of her, helping overcome frustrations from changed plans.
"Life is going to throw so many different things at you and when I was younger I thought, 'If I do all these things it will lead me here,' but now I realize there are just a bunch of different paths in life and sometimes it's not the right path or the wrong path," she said, "it's just which one do I want in that moment."
Which required some serious growth from Dixon.
A self-described perfectionist, she used to have her mother film her playing so she could have a way to dissect her errors and make improvement. It's no wonder K-State's film system helped sell her on the program four years ago.
A four-time Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll member and two-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree, Dixon has avoided average at all costs and in all phases of her life. But she's also learned to be flexible, and that success can look differently than what she knew prior.
"When I was younger, I took everything very seriously," she said. "I'm a very high achiever, so I was, like, 'OK, I need to be excelling on the court. I need to be excelling in my relationships…' and sometimes you can't have it all at once."
So, Dixon has focused her efforts on developing consistency in what she can control. Namely, her effort and her attitude.
"Being one of the oldest players on the team and one of the only oldest players on the team, it was a big deal for me to be a good role model, to be a good example and really help the young ones grow and mature both as players and as people," Dixon said. "That really, honestly, helped me become comfortable with who I am. In order to be an effective leader, you need to know who you are, thoroughly, and know what you stand for, know what you believe in and really walk the talk. I think leading by example but also with my words has been something that's really been an emphasis for me this year.
"Just learning to be consistent with who I am and showing up every single day with the same type of attitude and mentality, I think that really creates an environment that I would hope for my teammates, so every day I strive to come in the same so my teammates know what they're going to get from me."
It's not gone unnoticed.
"I feel like she has helped develop a positive culture on the court," freshman outside hitter Anna Dixon, no relation, said of Sarah Dixon. "She's always talking and encouraging her teammates, even if we're like in a deep hole or not getting what we want out of the game or a certain situation. She's definitely been our go-to positive idol on the court."
Fritz emphatically agreed.
"She wants to be really good, but she wants all of her teammates to be really good, too, whether it be now or later. I think that's where she's just been incredible this year as a senior," Fritz said. "She, by far, has the strongest vocal presence of anybody on the team. She tries really hard to set higher expectations and try to get people to meet them. She's the one that talks in the huddle. She's the one that talks after the matches, and she did it all summer, too. She's the one who ran the open gyms. Her voice is really strong."
Players Mentioned
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OH
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DS/L
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MB
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