Not every volleyball player is capable of playing all six positions on the court. But a senior on the University of Tennessee team, Kelsey Fautsch, can.

“Kelsey is one of the few players on our team that can play all six positions,” coach Rob Patrick said.

“It’s tough,” Fautsch said. “Sometimes it gets really tiring and there’s a lot of different things we have to learn, like where we stand and where to go and it can be challenging. But I’ve been playing it since sixth grade.”

Fautsch is a senior, so she wants this to be her best year and is dealing with that pressure, Patrick said.

“She’s going to have to be a consistent player for us in all the rotations that she plays,” he said. “When she’s in the front row, she needs to be a very good blocker and a consistent hitter. When she’s in the back row she needs to be a very good server and also somebody who passes the ball and digs the ball consistently. So her main goal is to be a consistent player all around.”

Fautsch can improve in several areas, the coach said.

“She’s somebody that takes a powerful player and so when she gets a set in the right spot she takes some big swings,” the coach said. When she did not get a good set, she still took big swings and in this situation Patrick wants her just to get the ball in play.

Fautsch also needs to work on consistency and passing, Patrick said, adding that she did seem to address those problems in the off-season. “She graded out as our best passer” in an early-season game against Lehigh, the coach said.

One of Fautsch’s teammates also thinks she has improved.

“Kelsey has been a very effective and important player for our team,” senior Annie Sadowski said. “She has stepped out of her comfort zone from last year and is contributing as a true senior. She continues to get better at hitting, defensive and passing everyday.”

In order for the team to be successful, it must “stay consistent and be aggressive,” Fautsch said. “It’s important for us as a young team to go out and play as hard as we can all the time.”