By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
WEST UNITY – When it comes down to action at the net, Hilltop senior volleyball standout Brynn Rodriguez elevates her own performance to another level, and on Thursday, October 2, she became just the third player in program history to achieve her 1,000th career kill against Pettisville.
The 6-0 senior middle hitter who has now tallied 1,015 kills during her outstanding four-year career under veteran head coach Janice Bruner joins her older sister, Gabby Rodriguez, who had recorded 1,235 kills from 2019-2022, and recently graduated Libbie Baker, who registered 1,202 kills from 2021-2024.
“Well, it’s been a goal for me since I first started playing volleyball, and I always wanted to achieve it,” said Rodriguez.
“Just being able to achieve it, I feel so relieved that all of my hard work has paid off. It was an amazing feeling, and I’m glad that I was able to experience it with all of my team and everyone there to support me.”
Bruner noted that her 1,000th kill recorded by Rodriguez came near the end of the first set against Pettisville.
“Her 1,000th kill was actually point 25 of the first set, so it was like multiple excitement because we had won the set and then she got her 1,000th kill,” said Bruner.
“Then we had a little break because it was that minute break between the sets, and so we celebrated. I think Brynn (Rodriguez) has done a good job of being focused on the team and the goals that we had at the beginning of the season, where we had wanted our play to be.”
This season, Rodriguez has already recorded 369 kills, while in her junior year she tallied 334 kills and 200 kills as a sophomore despite missing half of the season.
Baker currently holds the single-season school record with 515 kills set last year.
“You need to be fairly efficient with that, like the number of attacks you get and the percentage of kills that you have to go with that,” said Bruner. “You’ve got to have decent hitting and attack percentages for sure.”
It was definitely a goal for Rodriguez to finally accomplish in her senior year, even though in her freshman year, she suffered a knee injury in the district final and eventually missed half of her sophomore year recovering from it.
“It was definitely tough following the injury, but once I got back through my sophomore year, I really just wanted to make up for what I had missed,” commented the Lady Cadets standout.
“And I also used that for my junior and senior year because it was my goal to get my 1,000 career kills.
“I thought that once I got hurt and had missed half of my sophomore year, that I might not have been able to get it. So. I definitely pushed myself even more to reach that goal.”
Her mental and physical toughness persevered throughout her rehabilitation from the knee injury, in which she motivated herself to get back on the court on her own.
“I had to go through a lot of physical therapy and do a lot of stuff on my own, such as a lot of lifting, mobility work to get back to where I was,” said Rodriguez. “There was a lot of self-motivation that was needed.”
As a freshman, Rodriguez, who played alongside her sister, Gabby Rodriguez, who is now a junior volleyball standout at Defiance College, recorded just 112 kills.
Gabby Rodriguez recorded the second-highest number of kills in a single season with 421 kills in 2021.
“Her freshman year, she had played with her older sister Gabby (5-9) and Libbie Baker (6-2), so I had like three big girls, which is unusual for Hilltop because we’re usually smaller height-wise,” said Bruner.
“That was an interesting mix of kids because back then, I had only one six-footer in Darcy Lillemon, who had played in my first two years as head coach. “
When Rodriguez was a freshman, she had played on the right-hand side of the court where the Lady Cadets had a pair of veterans in Mia Hancock and Baker, both playing in the middle, so the 6-0 senior standout provided her head coach a nice, bigger block against the opposing teams’ outside hitter, which often is their better hitter.
“Defensively, she was a key component to our defense,” said Bruner. “We were able to get her the ball some as a freshman.”
The Lady Cadets standout credits her older sister not only for support and inspiration, but both of those traits have developed her into one of the top volleyball players in the four-county area this season.
“She (Gabby) has been my number one motivator,” pointed out Rodriguez. “A lot of advice that she gives me is mental advice.
“She knows how hard it can be, mental blocks and all of that stuff, and gives me advice on how to get through that and how to keep pushing just what you want.”
Being one of four senior leaders on the team, including Brooklyn Kuszmaul, Hayden JoHantgen, and Isabella Ackley, Rodriguez has inherited all of those leadership traits from her older sister.
“Seeing her (Gabby) be a leader definitely helps me to understand how to become a leader and what to do for people,” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez credits much of her on-court success to the play of a pair of setters in junior Kelsy Connolly and JoHantgen.
“Both (Connolly and JoHantgen) definitely know how to place the ball and know how to adapt to the different hitters,” pointed out Rodriguez.
“They have been very important, but it all starts just like with the first pass, so we have to have a good first pass and then get a good second one before getting a kill, which is always the intended goal. It really starts with everyone, and when we get everything put together, then we get the goal we like.”
The daughter of Josh and Emily Rodriguez, Brynn Rodriguez, carries a perfect 4.0 grade point average in the classroom. She also serves as the student council president and is vice-president of the senior class and a member of the National Honor Society.
She also participates in track and field in the spring season, competing in the high jump.
Her future plans are to attend college and continue her volleyball career. Once Rodriguez graduates from the volleyball program, her biggest advice for future Lady Cadet volleyball players is mental advice.
“Just keep pushing through to work hard for what they want,” Rodriguez pointed out. “If they aren’t seeing results for what they are trying to achieve right away and that’s okay.
“Because with success, there always comes failure, and that’s how you get better on what you’re trying to achieve.”
