St. Francis' Kelsay picks Nebraska

Like a saavy setter weighs where to put the ball, Kristen Kelsay carefully considered her collegiate options.

Then she picked the Cornhuskers.

The St. Francis senior setter verbally committed to Nebraska on Tuesday evening, joining the three-time NCAA girls volleyball champion.

"The best advice I got during the recruitment process was don't hurry it," Kelsay said, "and everything fell into place."

Kelsay chose Nebraska, ranked No. 6 in the country, over Northwestern. She also considered Notre Dame and Virginia.

The decision came to her last weekend when Kelsay visited Nebraska and watched the Cornhuskers host No. 2 Texas. Nebraska, which lost to eventual champion Penn State in last year's NCAA semifinals, recently set a regular-season single-match attendance record of 13,870 in a five-set loss to UCLA. That defeat snapped a 90-match home win streak.

"The school support there is incredible," Kelsay said.

Kelsay joins fellow Spartans senior Kelsey Robinson (Tennessee) as high Division I recruits for No. 1 and unbeaten St. Francis. Kelsay is also teammates with Robinson on the Sports Performance 18 Elite club team. Kelsay had an area-high 722 assists as a junior and is already a two-time academic all-conference pick.

"She has good skills and good knowledge," St. Francis coach Peg Kopec said. "She's played at a high level. That should all help her as she continues her career."

Kelsay will run a 6-2 offense at Nebraska. The Cornhuskers already have received a commitment from 6-foot-5 setter Morgan Broekhuis of Colorado for the senior class of 2010.

"I've run a 5-1 and a 6-2," said the 5-9 Kelsay, "so I'm comfortable with both. I'm not the biggest setter, so it's fine with me."