Molly Murrihy 2017 Player of the Year According to Daily Southtown

Molly Murrihy as Marist Team Leader – Image Courtesy from the Chicago Tribune

Molly Murrihy, a Marist senior, had a recurring dream and goal all season.

“It usually went that we’d get there and I never knew who won,” she said. “We’d get to the final few points and it was a super close game, and then I’d wake up. It was pretty crazy.”

Murrihy’s dream soon became true on the final night when Marist beat Minooka handedly to earn the first class 4A state title.

Out of all the players participating, guess who had kills on two of the final three points, including the very last one?

“I could not have told you in a million years that I would have gotten the game-winning point,” Murrihy said with a laugh in an interview with a Chicago Tribune reporter. “It was a surreal feeling.”

For the Daily Southtown 2017 Girls Volleyball Player of the Year, it was the perfect ending to a dream season.

Originally coming in as a Memphis recruit, Murrihy was a multipurpose leader for the RedHawks.

The 6-foot setter broke the school single-season record for assists with 1,132. She drove defenses to distraction with a total of 130 kills, most of them quite surprising and unexpected for such a high amount.

When it came to defense Murrihy stood strong at the net with 132 successful blocks, while contributing 206 digs to Marist’s cause.

To her team, Murrihy was the backbone of the RedHawks, the glue, and main communicator that will proudly finish number 2 in the PrepVolleyball.com national rankings behind Walton, Georgia.

“What she has done to connect our whole team this year is unbelievable,” Marist Coach Jordan Vidovich said. “Early on in the preseason, she pushed herself insanely hard to not just be the same thing she always was - a great settler - but to take over the game and run the fastest offense around.”

Murrihy says she looks forward for what the future may come to bring her in her volleyball career.

“It gives me a lot of confidence that they believe in me,” said Murrihy. “As long as I know my team believes in me, then I believe in myself.”