Kelly Murphy Continues to Have Stellar Year

Senior right-side setter Kelly Murphy earned her 27th career triple-double in a loss to Kentucky on Sunday, yet she is still one of the top candidates for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, which honors both her amazing on-court performance and her academic excellence.

Murphy, an elementary education major, believes that passion is crucial to both her athletic and academic success.

"I definitely wouldn't be good at volleyball or my classes unless I loved doing what I do," Murphy said. "It''s an important year for me, my senior year. I'm not sure if I want to follow my old friends and go pro or go to grad school, because I really think it would help others if I pursued teaching."

Murphy, now in her senior season, has been named the American Volleyball Coaches Association Player of the Week at least once in all four seasons of her career, being one of very few to have earned that honor. In addition, she tops off her career with having earned numerous national awards over the past three years, including National and SEC Freshmen Player of the Year. She has been named AVCA All-American the past three seasons, and her most recent triple-double is her ninth of this season alone.

"I'm so grateful for everything that's happened," Murphy said. "I remember, Coach [Mary] Wise showed up personally once and I talked to her back when I was in high school, and she said she believed she had faith in me with her program."

After that, she knew where she would be attending college, Murphy said.

The most recent loss to Kentucky, in spite of Murphy's triple-double, does not bog her down.

"I mean, it's obviously not enjoyable to come out and know your entire team is playing hard and still lose," Murphy said. "But still, it just means that no matter how far I've come personally in all these years, there's still room for improvement."

The Lowe's Senior CLASS Award will be announced at the end of normal-season play next month, and Murphy is one of the top three candidates to win the award.

Former Gators Lauren Bledsoe and Callie Rivers, from the 2010 team which won Florida's 12th SEC title, who Murphy is still in active contact with, also graduated to go professional. Murphy definitely has professional-caliber skills, so it will be interesting to see where her career path takes her.