Volleyball player profile: Emma Klein

She is the first player to break 1,300 career kills and 1,300 career digs at Eastern. She was named both PAC Player of the week and Quintel Wireless Athlete of the Week on Oct. 8. She has made the All-PAC first team in her first three seasons and was named the 2004 Freshman of the Year for both the PAC and the Mid-Atlantic region.

Senior Emma Klein is an irreplaceable part of Eastern’s volleyball team. She will be graduating in the spring with a degree in mathematics, but she can hardly imagine herself not playing volleyball.

Emma is one of three captains on Eastern’s volleyball team and the only senior.

“There’s more asked of me, but I like it,” she said. “Being a more experienced player, hopefully I can lead by example.”

Emma has been playing volleyball since she was 12. She played volleyball for both a club team and her high school team at Chapelgate Christian Academy in Maryland.

The 2007 season kicked off with some challenging matches and with several injuries on the team. “Everyone’s recovered and playing strong now,” Emma said. “We’re still undefeated in the PAC. We didn’t win the first couple [non-conference games], but we picked it up now.”

Compared to last year’s team, Emma said, “We definitely have more of a team dynamic this year.” Last season, the team did not have enough players to fill all of the positions, and players had to shift around. “This year, everyone has their set position and everyone gets along really well,” she said.

This season saw Emma leave her usual middle hitter position and move to the outside. However, the transition has not slowed her down, as she continues to post impressive stats and is in the running to become Eastern’s next PAC Player of the Year.

Emma has been impressed by the first-year players this season. “They’ve done a really great job,” she said.

The first-years had to learn the expectations of the team and coach quickly. “They’ve been a huge part of the team,” Emma said with sincerity.

Eastern’s volleyball team has won the PAC the past ten years. The past three out of four years, they made it to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. “We always get stopped by Juniata [College],” Emma said, referring to the top-ranked volleyball team and defending DIII national champions. “But hopefully that’ll change this year.”