A-C Valley Grad Eaton a Force for Thiel Volleyball

GREENVILLE, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Softball was the sport for Kylee Eaton.

Or so the 2019 A-C Valley graduate thought.

Eventually, fielding ground balls and smashing roping liners all over the yard no longer carried the same appeal. It no longer got Eaton jazzed.

(Photo courtesy of Thiel College)

“When I was in high school, I really did love softball, but I got burned out because I played travel ball so much,” Eaton said. “I played a lot.”

Eaton had plenty of other options. She was a four-sport star at A-C Valley during her senior year, playing volleyball in the fall, basketball in the winter and doing both softball and track and field in the spring.

When it came time to decide what she wanted to play in college, her decision became relatively easy and definitely unexpected.

Volleyball was the sport for Kylee Eaton.

Thiel College was the place where she was going to do it.

“It just kind of happened,” Eaton said. “(Thiel volleyball coach Tyler North) was kind of the first person to approach me in the collegiate sports world.”

Eaton never thought she would play volleyball in college, but here she was as a freshman at Thiel in the fall of 2019. Raw. Inexperienced. Willing to do whatever it took to excel.

“I actually had to learn more about the game,” Eaton said. “I didn’t put a lot of effort into my volleyball career in high school. I just played it because I played a lot of sports in high school. I had to play catch-up in my mental game, like reading the ball, just seeing plays happen before they happen.”

The 5-foot-9 outside hitter acquitted herself well as a freshman with 147 kills in 27 games.

She was gearing up for a big 2020 campaign. The COVID-19 pandemic had other plans.

Thiel did get a truncated season in the spring with 10 matches, but it was a long, frustrating layoff for Eaton.

When the season did begin, Eaton was dominant. She notched 120 kills in those 10 matches to lead the team. She was also tops on the Tomcats in service aces (14) and was third in digs (108). She was fourth in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference in kills per set (3.33) and was named to the All-PAC First Team in April.

“Kylee came in and bought into everything we’ve tried to teach her and it has shown,” North said. “She was a sponge over her first two years and was able to improve in every aspect of the game.”

Strangely, the delay to her sophomore season because of COVID helped Eaton immensely.

It gave her more time in the gym to hone her skills and to iron out the kinks. It also gave her the repetition needed to study her art.

“We practiced a lot in the fall — that’s all we could do because of COVID,” Eaton said. “I could see myself getting better and stronger and seeing the court a little bit better.”

What was once a weakness became her strength. Eaton had the uncanny ability of finding the dead spots on the floor with her powerful swing. Her overall game also improved. A six-rotation player, Eaton was no longer the player the other team targeted.

“When you take 60 swings a match, they know. They know you’re tired,” Eaton said. “No one wants to be the target.”

Entering her junior season this fall, Eaton will be looked to as one of the key players going forward for the Tomcats.

“She’s worked her tail off to become one of the cornerstones of the program we’re building here at Thiel,” North said. “She will continue to be a force for us the next few years. She’s gotten to the point where I can’t afford to take her off the floor.”

Eaton, though, is always looking for a new challenge.

A prime example of that was when she joined the track and field team at A-C Valley during her senior year. Despite never throwing the shot put before that spring, she won the District 9 Class A championship in the event and advanced to the state meet.

“I just wanted to get as good at it as I could in that short amount of time,” Eaton said. “That made me feel like anything I tackle, if I put effort into it, I can probably do it.”

Her latest challenge is golf, a sport she picked up last September. She’s already shooting in the low 50s for nine holes.

“I’m getting pretty good at it, I’d say. I don’t know,” Eaton said, chuckling. “I’m trying. I’m friends with some of the people on the golf team, so we’ll go to the driving range and I’ll be like, ‘Can you please help me?’

“I’m just doing it for leisure time because I’m going to be done with volleyball here in two years,” she added. “I have to have something to do.”