ON CAMPUS: Geneva's 'Urbie' builds on big night at Mercer
Never in Rachel Urbelis’ life has the phrase "Setting them up and knocking them down" been more relevant than the night of Saturday, Oct. 24 when she took over a volleyball match like very few Division I players ever do.
It was that night Urbelis, a former Geneva standout and current Mercer sophomore outside hitter, totaled 30 kills and 20 digs in an epic five-set victory at Atlantic Sun Conference foe Campbell to become the ninth D-I player this fall and the second Mercer player ever to total 30 kills in a match.
Mercer coach Noelle Rooke recalls it as the most dominant individual performance she has coached in her six seasons at Mercer – one more fitting of a sport such as basketball rather than a more team-driven one like volleyball.
“She was just unstoppable,” Rooke said. “You talk about having a go-to, she literally single-handedly kept us in that match. She had a career match, let alone the second-highest kill total in school history. You can see a 25, 26, 28 kill match, but 30 is so rare.”
Urbelis, or "Urbie" as she’s known by at the Macon, Ga., school, still isn’t quite sure what to make of it. She looks back on it with the feeling she explains as “almost an out of body experience.” But more logically, she explains it as a matter of her finally clicking with the team’s setters.
“The whole year I’ve had a hard time connecting with the setters,” Urbelis said. “I don’t know what happened, but the stars aligned for that match or something. The setting was perfect. It was one of those games where everything you touched just turned to gold.”
But until the Campbell match, the more fitting phrase for Urbelis’ time at Mercer might have been "You can’t always get what you want."
During her freshman season a year ago, playing time was at a minimum. She describes her role then essentially as a practice player, and when it came time for matches, she spent most of her time watching her older, more experienced teammates lead the Bears to an 18-10 overall record and 13-7 mark in the Atlantic Sun.
It was Mercer’s best season in 14 years and highest league win total in the school’s history. The winning was familiar, but the sitting back and watching someone else do it for the team was anything but what Urbelis was used to in her days as a Viking.
This year, the playing time has been there. She has started 22 of the team’s 25 matches, but the team results haven’t been quite what they were a year ago. Mercer currently stands at 8-17 and only has an outside shot at making the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.
“Stupid stuff we do at the end of sets just shows our youth,” Urbelis said. “We know that we kind of shot ourselves in the foot in the first half of conference, but we’re looking at the rest of the season as we might as well go out with a bang. We have nothing to lose.”
Urbelis isn’t looking past Mercer’s final four matches of this season, but she and Rooke are without question looking forward to next year when their sophomore-driven team is a year older and hopefully wiser.
“Experience far outweighs talent and leadership in volleyball,” Rooke said. “We just don’t have that this year. We’re returning pretty much everyone next year, so we’re hoping to be back to the level we were at last year next year.”
If that is the case, Urbelis could be looking at two years of being one of the centerpieces for a college volleyball program on the rise, which is exactly where she wants to be, and she’s got a phrase of her own for that.
“I just need the stars to align one more time for me in that regard,” Urbelis said.
• Kevin Chroust writes a weekly On Campus column on area athletes competing in college. To submit a column idea, e-mail him at kjchroust@hotmail.com.
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