Roberts Brings Unselfish Play Back To Coaching Staff
June 18, 2007

After four years as a starter for The University of Texas at Tyler volleyball team, Kelly Roberts isn’t done as a Patriot quite yet. The three-year captain will return to her team in the fall as an assistant coach.

“Kelly is great to work with,” Patriots volleyball coach Kristee Phelps said. “Even as a player, she helped with anything that needed doing. She was always very mature, and one of the best team leaders and teammates you could ask for.”

“Kelly being here from the birth of the program, she knows what’s going to be expected. She’s got a good connection with it, she’s been there. She’s also been with me for two years, so she’s become accustomed to what I expect.”

After coming to UT Tyler as a freshman from Quitman High School, Roberts became a starter immediately for the Patriots. In her career, she started all over the court for UT Tyler. Roberts says her versatility came from her stature.

“I’m short,” Roberts laughs, “I’m 5’7” stretching it. Through high school, I was the second tallest person on my team so I had to play in the middle. Then I’d get into club ball, and I’d be the shortest player on the team. It was never about playing a certain position, it was more about getting to play.”

“I think having that experience will help. I might not be an expert at every position, but I at least have enough experience that I can help somebody else with it.”

“She was one of those players who could get the job done no matter where you put her,” Phelps said. “During the spring, some of the girls wanted to try other court positions and found out they liked playing there. As a coach, that kind of puts me at ease because if we run into injury or other problems, we can switch it up with different lineups. With Kelly, she’s got so much experience, she can help all over the court. She can step in and help me with setting, she can teach hitting, she knows blocking, she’s been able to do it all.

Roberts holds the Patriots records for assists (2614) and digs (965). A Kinesiology major, Roberts plans to go to law school after graduation in May of 2008, and follow her father into real estate law. First though, she’d like to help her team to a playoff appearance in their first year of eligibility.

“Whenever I realized I had another year of school left,” Roberts said, “I knew that it was a chance that I could help and stay around. Since we couldn’t do anything in the playoffs my first four years, I thought it would be one more chance to make an impact on the program, and see if I can get those girls to the next level.”

“Volleyball has been a part of my life for so long, but having to realize that my playing days are over was kind of hard. If I’m going to have this last opportunity, I’m going to take it and work hard.”

The volleyball season begins for UT Tyler the weekend of September 1-2, with four games in Richardson.

Reid Kerr can be reached at rkerr@uttyler.edu.

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