By Christine Jinbo

The ESPN RISE high school athletes of the week program honors five football players and ten non-football players each week for the fall season. A panel of contributors from around the nation helps  select the honorees each week.

Kelly Kolich, a senior girls volleyball player from St. James Academy (Lenexa, Kan.), was chosen as the latest ESPN RISE Volleyball Athlete of the Week for the 2008-09 school year.  The senior 5-foot-10 outside hitter has been outstanding all season and last week she had 23 kills as ESPN RISE No. 9 ranked St. James won its sub-state tournament. 

Along with teammate Rachael Gray, Kolich led St. James to a second-place finish earlier this month at the prestigious Nike Challenge in Chicago. Coach Nancy Dorsey's squad wracked up a 40-1 record this season, with its only loss to No. 3 Mercy Academy (Louisville, Ky.) in the finals of the Nike Challenge.

A talented athlete, Kolich played on the varsity basketball team for two years before she decided to concentrate on volleyball.  Kolich plays club volleyball and works to help pay for club dues. 

Head Coach Nancy Dorsey spoke of Kolich, "She is an amazing kid with a great work ethic.  In fact, this past weekend, the kids won at sub-state and Sunday morning she had to get up at 5:00 am to go to work."

For Kolich, sports and the school is all in the family, with her mom Colleen, who teaches at the school, played basketball at Benedictine College.  Her dad, Bill, was a college basketball coach. 

She has been a starter on the St. James volleyball team for four years and is a three-year varsity player only because the school is brand new and did not have varsity sports the first year.  This makes Kolich's stats are even more impressive as she will graduate as the all time kill leader and may reach 1,000 kills, with only three years on varsity.

Originally, St. James Academy was not Kolich's first choice of high schools.  She wanted to attend another local Catholic high school, Aquinas, where her sister and many of her friends attended. But, when her mom was offered a teaching position at the school, it was. "Go Thunder! 

Kolich blossomed with St. James and is an active member of the school community.  She maintains a 3.5 grade point average (with an academically challenging curriculum), while playing varsity sports, playing on a traveling club team and working full time.

She led the squad in kills each year and has been in the top three in aces, serve receive percentage and hitting percentage.  She also was MVP of the Hayden Invitational and shined earlier this season when St. James topped traditional Kansas powers Bishop Miege and St. Thomas Aquinas.

The Thunder will head to the state championships for the second time in the school's short history this weekend.