Emily Kilmer still remembers the early days of her volleyball career.
After a year of playing club, the Oconto Falls native competed for the seventh-grade school team. Every match was a learning experience. There was definite potential from the young player.
“When I was little I didn’t think I was good, but I talked to girls and they thought I was,” Kilmer said.
During her first year playing in middle school, Kilmer was the team’s libero.
“I was scared of the front row, but now it’s my favorite thing about it,” Kilmer said.
The only ones who should be scared these days are the defenders attempting to block Kilmer at the net.
Kilmer, now a senior on the Oconto Falls High School volleyball team, is a front-row force. She has come a long way from her days as a libero. Kilmer’s one of the best, if not the best, outside hitters in the North Eastern Conference.
“This year, just having last year’s experience, she’s definitely the player that everyone’s aware of,” said Oconto Falls coach Rochell Otto, who started coaching Kilmer in ninth grade on the junior varsity team. “The Luxemburg-Casco coach was just in awe of her, thought she was just amazing.”
In her second year as the Panthers’ go-to offensive player, Kilmer has shined. Opposing teams frequently design special defensive game plans to try and minimize her role. They are rarely effective.
“She’s a heck of a player,” said Luxemburg-Casco coach Jeff Frey, after his team’s match against Oconto Falls on Oct. 8. “You block line, she hits it cross-court. You block cross-court, she hits it line. You can only try and slow her down.”
Otto has watched teams try and slow down her star all season.
“A lot of teams will start cheating toward her, so that’s why it’s nice whenever we have a Sarah Sprout or Alyssa Nelson hitting right side that we can go away (from Kilmer) and they can get the job done,” Otto said. “She opens up our offense for other girls as well.”
Kilmer, a three-year starter, dedicated herself in the offseason to getting better on the court.
“I was in track up until last year and I decided I really wanted to focus on volleyball because I’m hoping to play in college,” Kilmer said. “I really just wanted to focus on improving my skills for this year.”
After playing for the local Northern Lightning club for five years – sixth through 10th grade — Kilmer joined the PoWer club last November. The club features Green Bay-area players and has allowed Kilmer to play with and against different players and experience larger tournaments.
“Volleyball is truly my life,” Kilmer said. “It’s all I did this summer; it’s where I put all my free time into.”
In November, Kilmer will enter her second season with the PoWer 17 Green team.
Along with on-court training, Kilmer put time in on conditioning and agility work. Entering this season, Otto could tell Kilmer’s vertical jump had improved and she was quicker on her feet.
“It’s awesome when a girl puts in the time that she does,” Otto said. “It obviously benefiting her, and you can totally tell she played club and did the agility stuff.”
It’s scary to think that Kilmer got even better after a solid junior season. In 2014, she played in 101 sets and registered a team-high 378 kills (3.7 per set) while earning first-team all-conference honors. She finished with a kill percentage of 32.6.
This season (through Oct. 13), Kilmer has played in 92 sets and logged 335 kills, with a kill percentage of 35.
After being primarily a front-row player her sophomore and junior seasons, Kilmer is getting a chance to stay in the lineup full-time and rotate to the back row.
“It’s really nice playing in the back row,” Kilmer said. “If I’m having an off night or something, I can just focus on my passing then or just brush off my hitting and get ready for the next round to go. If I have an off night of passing, I can just focus on my hitting.”
Kilmer has flourished in her expanded role. She more than doubled her digs, 277 this year compared to 114 all of last season.
Kilmer is also a strong server, amassing 60 aces so far this season. She had 61 in 2014.
Hitting machine
The best part of Kilmer’s game is her ability to put the ball away. She wholeheartedly agrees with that. Kill. Spike. Whatever you want to call it, Kilmer can do it.
“Her hitting is phenomenal, and so is her serving,” teammate Alyssa Nelson said.
Otto has watched Kilmer’s presence at the net increase every season.
“When she is at the top of her game, she is tough,” Otto said. “If the set’s pushed out where she can go down line or cross-court, she is very unstoppable.”
Having strong court vision is a key for any successful outside hitter. Knowing where to place the ball and avoid blocks is something that’s learned through experience.
“When I was younger, I just kind of swung at it and hoped for the best, but over these last couple of years I’ve really learned to place it well,” Kilmer said.
“You have to stay behind the ball so you can see the blockers in front of you, and it really helps when the set’s there. Mikaela (Thomson) is a great setter, so it really helps to see when the block is there. I just see big globs of hands and I have to hit around it. Sometimes it doesn’t work as well as planned, but you’ve just got to keep it in front of you and go where they’re not.”
Added Otto, “Last year, I think she just overran the ball a lot, but she keeps it in front of her now.”
Working on her vertical leap in the offseason has paid dividends at the net. At 5-foot-8, Kilmer is fairly short for an outside hitter. However, that doesn’t seem to hamper her game.
“My mom tells me this all the time, she doesn’t know how I hit so well being so short,” Kilmer said. “Looking at pictures, I can see that my vertical is pretty good when I hit it.”
Her kills have been picture perfect this season.
“When Mikaela gives me a set, it’s just a rush really,” Kilmer said. “When you know it’s going to be a perfect set with a perfect hit, it’s just really, really fun.”
Volleyball beyond high school
Kilmer went into her final high school volleyball season with goals of helping her team win and advance deep in the postseason. She will have that shot with regionals coming up this week.
Individually, she wants to leave her mark in the new North Eastern Conference.
“I wanted to be the leader in the conference for hits, and that’s happened,” Kilmer said. “Last year, my passing wasn’t the best and this year I’m up in the top for digs in the conference. I didn’t expect that.”
As a well-rounded player, Kilmer has been getting some looks from colleges. Kilmer attended a camp over the summer at Division II Northern Michigan University, and coaching staff showed interest in her; however, she’d like to stay a little closer to home. Kilmer has recently been in contact with the coaches at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and St. Norbert College in De Pere.
“They both said I’d have a pretty good chance of playing there,” said Kilmer, who is thinking about majoring in communications. “I’m narrowing it down to those two.”
Oshkosh is having a phenomenal season, while St. Norbert is in a rebuilding stage.
Otto believes either Division III school would be a good fit for Kilmer.
“I think she could step into St. Norbert and get herself a starting position,” Otto said. “Oshkosh, because of the program that (coach Brian Schaefer) has built, I don’t know if she could step in as a freshman and start playing. Definitely with her work ethic, she could work herself into a spot.”
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