Sarah Wilber has not shyed away from the responsibility of being the only senior on the Kent State volleyball team.

Wilber, a middle blocker, was named Mid-American Conference Scholar Athlete of the Week after making 49 kills in three matches. She is able to balance her leadership roll with a nearly perfect 3.968 cumulative grade point average.

And this weekend, she looks to help the Flashes further the success of last weekend’s second-place finish in the Kent State invitational as they travel to North Carolina for the Catamount Clash. Their opponents will be High Point, Kennesaw State and host Western Carolina.

Coach Mora Kanim said the team still wants to improve from its 2-1 showing last weekend and has the same winning attitude.

“Our strategy is to carry over our focus and attention from this past weekend,” Kanim said. “We need to replicate our feelings from Saturday. That is our goal.

“I think (Wilber) provides a great role model,” Kanim said. “I think this team is as good as I ever coached. In terms of chemistry. In terms of priorities. We have to realize how good we really are. Winning is a team responsibility.”

While playing on the road like this, the Flashes plan on letting the opportunities come to them.

“The nice part about it is that we can’t be 3-0 until we are 1-0 and 2-0 and so on,” Kanim said. “We go into it one match at a time. We even break that down to one game at a time. The hardest thing to do is to break it down to one point at a time. The best way to prepare for it is to not look at the weekend as a whole, but focus on what’s next.”

Contact volleyball reporter Frank Schaefer at [email protected].