Baler volleyball standout Kortsen remains modest despite
imposing talent
She can hit, block, pass and serve. In other words, when it
comes to volleyball Emily Kortsen has it all. This year the
imposing, 6-foot-2, two-time league MVP, who is best known for
dominating games with her stellar play as the Balers opposite side
hitter, is in step to win the league’s top individual award
again.
Baler volleyball standout Kortsen remains modest despite imposing talent
She can hit, block, pass and serve. In other words, when it comes to volleyball Emily Kortsen has it all. This year the imposing, 6-foot-2, two-time league MVP, who is best known for dominating games with her stellar play as the Balers opposite side hitter, is in step to win the league’s top individual award again.
“I’d be very surprised if she didn’t win the MVP award again,” said San Benito High School coach Dean Askanas of his top senior player. “She deserves all of the accolades that she’s received. She’s almost unstoppable at this level when she gets going.”
This year she leads the Balers in kills with 291 and is a team leader in just about every other category that stats are kept.
Clearly, her play on the court is a major reason why the Balers won the school’s first-ever Central Coast Section volleyball title last year before advancing all the way to the northern California state finals. Yet despite all the accolades Kortsen remains very humble.
“I enjoy volleyball because it’s a really big teamwork sport,” said Kortsen, who will be attending Utah State University next year on a full volleyball scholarship. “When the team connects really well it shows. It’s not an individual sport; an individual can’t make a difference. It’s got to come together as a team.”
“It seems that all of the great players know that they are great,” Askanas said. “She is the most modest of all the players that I have ever coached in the 16 years that I’ve been coaching volleyball. Other top players tend to have a slight arrogance about them.”
Askanas went on to say usually when a player has that much talent they tend to find room to slack off during practices but that Kortsen “never does” and remains the hardest worker on the team.
The youngest of four daughters, who all played volleyball at the high school over the past 13 seasons, Emily learned a lot from watching her sisters compete. By the time she was a sophomore, she captured her first league MVP award and earned her first national ranking as one of the top sophomores in the country.
In her junior season a year ago, she captured the league’s MVP award for the second time. She was named Northern California athlete of the week during the state volleyball tournament that year – a tournament that saw her rack up 30 kills in the quarterfinals game and 29 more in the semifinals.
Last year she was also named as a high school All American – and later that year she was chosen to the National Junior Olympics All-Tournament team in the 18-year-old division – despite being only 16.
She was most recently named to the prestigious list of the top 100 senior volleyball players in the nation.
“Talent wise, she’s got to be in the top four of all the players that I have ever coached,” Askanas said. “She has height. She can hit for power anywhere on the floor. She can put the ball away from the back or front row. She’s a great passer and has a great service game. Any time she goes up for a block, she’s going to win most of the time.”
Kortsen started playing club volleyball when she was in the seventh grade. Her interest in the sport first peaked after watching her older sister Kaylie, a 2002 San Benito High graduate, play.
She attributes playing for so many years with her success on the court today.
“I have a lot of experience,” Kortsen said. “When you get that much experience you’re only going to get better and better. I wasn’t always very good. It never really dawned on me. There are a lot of good players out there.”
During a game, she says her main focus is staying positive.
“I try and think about doing my best. I want to keep positive and keep everyone else pumped up. I don’t get or think negative otherwise it all goes down hill from there.”
Next fall she will attend Utah State where she will rejoin former Baler teammate Chelsea Fowles to play for the NCAA Division I school.
“The main reason why I decided to go there was because when I went for a campus visit there the coaches were really awesome. The school has a very good program too, but the coaches made me feel really good. Other coaches at other schools didn’t seem as excited.”
Her current coach thinks she will have no problem cracking the starting lineup at Utah.
“I think she will be an immediate impact player for Utah State,” Askanas said. “She will immediately play all six rotations the entire time.”
After college, if she chooses to pursue it, her coach believes that she could play professional volleyball in Europe or beach volleyball here in the United States. She’s thought about the latter.
“I don’t know about professional. But I’ve talked with my sister Kaylie about becoming beach volleyball partners after I graduate.”
