SIUE’s Torre to compete in volleyball overseas
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville senior Kristen Torre used up her final year of collegiate eligibility in volleyball back in the fall, but the 2012 Highland High School graduate is far from done with the sport she loves, especially in terms of distance. That is because Torre will compete for Team USA in Europe this summer.
Two months ago, SIUE volleyball coach Leah Johnson emailed Torre, a 2012 graduate of Highland High School, if she would be interested in playing for a 22-and-Under National Team overseas for a few weeks this summer. Of course, Torre emphatically accepted the invitation to embark on this once-in-a-lifetime type of experience.
The team will be composed of Division I players who will be graduating in May as well as some who will be going into their senior years. It is a 12-day trip and the team will be traveling to Prague, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy.
Torre and her team will leave on July 5 and will land on July 6 in Prague, where they will first compete in three matches. Next, they will play one match in Slovenia before heading to Croatia for a four-day tournament
“I am very excited to have the opportunity to represent SIUE and the United States by playing the sport I have loved for the past 12 years,” Torre said. “This is incredible and I am blessed and grateful for this opportunity. This would not have ever been possible without Coach Johnson and all the other coaches pushing me throughout these four years here. They have really believed in me and helped me strive to be a better player than I was the previous day. I am forever grateful to the coaches and the players for their dedication to the program which in turn has helped me grow as a player. I would never have been given this opportunity if it was not for any of them.”
From this rare and special opportunity, Torre hopes to gain insight as to what it is like to play overseas, and possibly even professionally.
“Right now I do not have any set plans for the future,” she said. “Playing overseas professionally has always been something that is in the back of my mind, so this is a great chance for me to see if that is something that I want to peruse even more.”
To help prepare for the National Team this summer, she has been and will continue to practice with the SIUE volleyball team until she and the team departs but there is no formal practice with all of her Team USA teammates until they land in Prague on July 6.
Records and accomplishments
As a senior at SIUE last fall, Torre established a single-season record for hitting percentage in a season at .375 and was named All-Ohio Valley Conference for the second straight season. She was also selected as one of the 30 national candidates for the 2015 Senior CLASS Award in collegiate volleyball. To be eligible for the Senior CLASS Award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
Torre finished her SIUE career at No. 5 all time in school history in kills with 1,256 and second all-time in hitting percentage at .315, while she also ranks in the top 10 in numerous statistical categories, including solo blocks (tie for fourth at 68), points (fifth at 1,540), sets played (sixth at 443), attack attempts (seventh at 2,945), block assists (seventh at 268), total blocks (eighth at 336), points per set (ninth at 3.48), kills per set (10th at 2.84).
As a senior, Torre led the team for the season in kills (357), service aces (29) and blocks (107) and recorded double digits in kills in 20 of 26 matches. She collected at least one block in all 26 matches and was one of just one of six players to have appeared in all 106 sets for the season.
As a junior in the fall of 2014, Torre was only the second player in school history to be named All-Ohio Valley Conference after recording a team-leading 393 kills and 98 blocks for the season.
As a second-year starter as a sophomore in 2013, she helped the Cougars advance to the championship match of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in the program’s first-ever appearance in the OVC postseason tourney.
At a senior at Highland High School in the fall of 2011, Torre led the Bulldogs to their most successful season in school history, which featured a school-record number of wins at 28-5, included a 10-0 sweep of the Mississippi Valley Conference, and culminated with a regional championship. For her stellar play all year long, Torre was named to the MVC All-Conference First Team as well as being selected to three different all-tournament teams.
This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 6:05 AM with the headline "SIUE’s Torre to compete in volleyball overseas."