Nansemond-Suffolk Academy junior volleyball sensation Kaylor Nash won this week’s Player of the Week poll with 291 votes.

Thanks in large part to Nash, NSA (9-0) is enjoying one of its best starts ever. During four games in the week of Sept. 9, Nash piled up 69 kills, 24 aces, 37 digs and seven blocks.

Nash credits the ability of the team to execute a game plan together.

“The past teams, nobody’s been able to do what we’ve been able to do now,” she said. “We’re starting to run plays already. The first week, we were working on different types of plays.”

Her interest in volleyball stemmed from a youthful and intrepid spirit.

“My friends played it all the time, so I wanted to try it, always trying to do something new,” she said. “I was in fifth grade, I think, when I first got interested in it, and my friends just taught me how to pass and stuff, do the right things, and I just liked it from there.”

The speed of the game is something that strongly appealed to her.

“Yeah, it’s fast-moving,” she said. “In basketball and soccer, you can stop the ball, think what you have to do, and then pass or kick it, whatever, but in volleyball, it’s like spur of the moment.”

Her strong performances this season came with a great deal of offseason preparation.

“I worked really hard over the summer, going to a lot of camps, coming to open gyms, just doing a lot of volleyball stuff,” she said. “I worked out over the summer a lot. Five times a week.”

These workouts included cross-fit-type activities like burpees, which involve going from a push-up position to a crouch to a jump. She also did a lot of sprints. One point of the workouts was to add to her vertical leap.

“It increased two inches over the summer,” she said.

This is important, since at 5’9, she is three or four inches shorter than what college coaches traditionally prefer.

Nash participates in a few other sports, as well.

“I played varsity basketball, I’ll play it again this year,” she said. “I used to play varsity soccer, but I stopped that last year.”

She also helps NSA athletic trainer Haley Rector during the spring and benefits from the learning experience.

“I just assist her, do whatever she needs me to do,” she said. “She’ll teach me how to tape an ankle, so I can do that. Normally, I just tape ankles or get heat for somebody before practice or ice them up afterwards.”

This season, Nash sees a real opportunity for NSA volleyball to go all the way.

“I hope we can win TCIS and hopefully states, especially this year,” she said. “We definitely have the potential to do that.”

Beyond high school, Nash wants volleyball to play a major role in the form of a scholarship.

“I would love to play volleyball in college,” she said. “That’s one of my major goals, just to go to a college that I like to play for.”