By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Surrounded by All-Americans in her first four years in the program, 5-foot-11 hitter Halle Meister had to wait her turn to move into a prominent role for Washburn University's volleyball team.
Halle Meister
And when the fifth-year senior finally got that opportunity this fall, she has made the most of it, helping lead the No. 2-nationally ranked Ichabods to a perfect 8-0 start entering this weekend's MIAA openers at Lee Arena against Fort Hays State and Nebraska-Kearney.
Meister turned in a career performance this past weekend in the Lee Invitational in Cleveland, Tenn., earning Most Valuable Player honors after helping the Ichabods post a 4-0 record on the weekend while leading the WU offense with 44 total kills and a .488 attacking percentage.
Halle Meister turned in a big performance for Washburn in the Lee Invitational last weekend, helping the Ichabods improve to 8-0 on the season. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
In Saturday's 3-1 win over Saint Leo, Meister knocked down a career-high 16 kills and hit a sizzling .565 for the match and followed that with 13 kills with a .524 hitting percentage in a sweep over Trevecca Nazarene.
Meister ranks second on the team with 71 kills while being a part of 11 blocks.
"I just had to be patient,'' Meister said of her breakout season. "I came in and I kept working every single day. The girls above me deserved the spot and I wasn't mad about it. I was cheering them on, I was happy for them and whatever makes the program win I'm totally down for it.''
The Omaha, Neb. native has tried to maintain that same attitude this fall.
"I'm having the same amount of fun as I have the last four years,'' she said. "Nothing has really changed. Yeah, I'm on the court now, but the vibe and the energy and everything is still the same.''
Veteran Washburn coach Chris Herron, whose Ichabods posted a runner-up finish in the NCAA Division II national tournament last season, said he is extremely proud of the career Meister has been able to carve out at WU and believes even better days could still be ahead.
"I couldn't be more happy for any kid than Halle,'' Herron said. "She's been behind All-Americans in the middle, All-Americans on the right side and not once, not one time have I heard, 'Hey, why am I not playing?' She just kept working, kept working, kept working and last weekend no one could stop her. It's been fun, but I've given her a warning, telling her, 'You know what, now everybody's got film on you and you're not going to sneak up on anybody anymore so you've got to up your game even more.
"It's almost like a script you want to write up for how you would like kids to be -- patient and wait their turn and so on and so forth. She didn't have to come back. She could have graduated and got out of here, but she wanted her turn and now it's her turn.''
Meister said she learned a lot from the great Washburn players around her in her previous seasons.
"Most definitely,'' Meister said. "I think I picked up more on the leadership role and what it takes to be a good teammate. I picked that up more than what I picked up from volleyball. I did pick up some things from volleyball from them but I just learned to be a better person through them.''
Now Meister is trying to be that kind of leader for the younger Ichabods, including 10 freshmen, on the 2022 roster.
"Everyone looks up to the upperclassmen and they do look up to me and I'm just thankful that I can put the younger girls in the right direction to succeed in the future when I'm gone, when the older girls are gone,'' she said. "I think (being a leader) is a natural role for me but there are some situations where I do have to get out of my comfort zone and tell the girls, 'This isn't right, this needs to be fixed.' but I'm more of the encouragement part of the leadership. I'm more like, 'Yes, you've got this. Let's go.'
"Coach Herron has been really patient with all these younger girls and I think that's a blessing and that's another thing that the freshmen see and are like, 'We can all do this.' ''
Washburn will host Fort Hays State at 6 p.m. Friday and Nebraska-Kearney at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
