Setting is now Turk's forte

An injured back might be the best thing that ever happened to Molly Turk.

The third child of an athletic Elgin family, Molly began playing club volleyball in the fourth grade, prodded by her friends Corrine Groves, Olivia Weger and Maggie Knott, all of whom would later play varsity volleyball at St. Edward.

They convinced Turk to begin training with them at Sports Performance, which at the time was still headquartered in West Chicago. "I would sleep on the car rides home I was so little," said Turk, now an affable 16-year-old junior in high school.

To cut down on time spent driving to and from practices, parents Jeff and Lynne Turk transferred Molly to Marengo-based Club Fusion the following year. She developed into a fundamentally sound outside hitter in the four club seasons prior to high school.

Turk had no reason to believe she wouldn't play hitter for the Rockets after making the Burlington Central varsity as a freshman, but a problem arose -- a back problem.

"Her freshman year she missed the first half of the season with us," said Rockets coach Marv Leavitt. "It forced her not to hit. She basically passed for us that season."

Turk's back improved enough later in the high school season to the point she could hit again, but at Club Fusion tryouts in November it was decided Turk would try setting instead.

"We thought she should try setting for two reasons," said Club Fusion Director of Volleyball Operations, Dave Soller. "No. 1, We didn't think she was going to be a big outside hitter. Molly jumps well but she topped out at 5-foot-9.

"Secondly, we like to take our best athletes and make them setters, and Molly is a great athlete."

The decision has paid huge dividends for Turk and her high school team at Burlington Central.

She returned to Central a different player as a sophomore. She recorded 424 setting assists while demonstrating all-around versatility with 141 kills, 51 blocks and a team high 53 aces. More importantly, she led the Rockets to a 26-10 record and their first regional title in Class AA.

Last winter she notched more honors when she was named an all-American on the club circuit after her 16-Black Fusion team finished second in the national division at nationals.

With more setting experience under her belt, Turk matured into one of the best players in the Fox Valley this fall, arguably becoming the area's best all-around player.

She finished the 2007 season with a staggering 830 assists (22.4 per match), made just 12 errors while killing 93 of 165 attempts and made 160 digs to help the Rockets to a 33-4 record and their first championship in the Big Northern Conference since 1986.

Burlington Central was a smooth-running machine loaded with veterans in 2007, and Turk was the engine that made that machine hum.

"Besides being really gifted athletically, she did a fantastic job of running our offense this year," Leavitt said. "As a team we hit .366, and that's saying a lot for her. She put the ball where people could hit and she made great decisions on the court."

A volleyball kill percentage of better than .300 is considered decent for hitter, much like in baseball. Thanks to Turk's sets, Central sophomore outside hitter Stephanie Holthus was able to polish off 44 percent of her kills. Senior middle Teresa Krog did even better, nailing a whopping 50.1 percent of her kill attempts.

In a tip of the hat to her own days as a hitter, Turk killed 49.1 percent of her attempts at the net this season.

Turk isn't driven by the attention her success often brings. In fact, Leavitt says, she normally shuns the spotlight if given the choice.

"She's the type of player who wants to do everything for the team and she's the last one who wants attention for this," Leavitt said. "Anytime an honor comes her way, when she's named all-tournament or all-conference, she just wants to sink in her chair and not get that attention.

"I'm sure she's proud of what she's accomplished. She's just more concerned about the team succeeding and bringing everyone else to the forefront. The attention she likes to get is when the team is successful."

Turk did draw plenty of attention from college coaches, naturally. With many schools to choose from, she made up her mind this fall to verbally commit to the University of Northern Iowa.

"After I met (head coach) Bobbi (Petersen) and (assistant coach) Kalani (Mahi), I fell completely in love with them. They are the nicest coaches ever and are so knowledgeable. They are always at the top of their conference (Missouri Valley).

"I want to go into marketing or business, and those are two of the strongest majors at that school. And it's not that far from my house. It's far enough from my house that my parents can't see me every minute, but not too far where I can't come home if there's an emergency. So, I thought it was perfect."

That means Molly won't have to drive too far to attend to one of her family's honored traditions: showing pigs.

Molly's family lives on Elgin's western fringe adjacent to the farm owned by her grandma and grandpa, who traditionally purchase pigs each year for their grandchildren to show in the Kane County Fair.

"My grandma and grandpa always do pretty well buying the pigs," said. "We've had a couple of grand champions."

Thanks to Molly's success on the volleyball court, the Turk family now has a champion of another kind.