Hard working. Driven. Focused. Those are just a few words to describe freshman outside hitter Kate Blasingame. Seen as a morning person, a typical day for Blasingame starts at 7 a.m., followed by class and studying like any other student. Where Blasingame differs though, is she then goes to volleyball practice and leaves everything left on the court to help the team get better.

Coming from Frisco, Texas, Blasingame started in athletics at an early age. Starting around age four, Blasingame competed in gymnastics for eight years before following in her older sister’s footsteps to pursue volleyball at age 12.

After dominating the high school scene, it was time to choose a college. Blasingame will tell you with no hesitation that her faith had a lot to do with her decision. “I am very strong in my faith and I believe I was brought here for a reason. My faith drove me to go here,” Blasingame said.

Coming in as a freshman, there can be a large learning curve for student athletes. However, ULM has done everything possible to make it a smooth transition for incoming students. “They’ve designed it in a way that we can succeed in the classroom and on the court. We have study hall each week, so we’re always in the SSC or the library really focusing on our school work and when we come to practice, we can focus on practice. “

Head Coach Russ Friedland is doing everything he can to prepare his players for a tough season and instilling in them that the goal right now is a winning season. And Blasingame has bought in to the methods. Blasingame always has the team’s goals at heart, but also has personal goals she wants to achieve. “As a team, we definitely want to continue to keep playing the way we played in the final two games of the Memphis Invitational and end up with a winning record,” Blasingame shared.

Pressure can affect different people in different ways, but Blasingame prefers to have a more optimistic look on the situation. “I remind myself that it’s a game and I’m very blessed to play the game. This is something that I love to do. But, I love playing under pressure too because it makes it more exciting,” Blasingame said. “If you put something in front of me, I’m going to meet the challenge and try to exceed that.”

Its not always serious though. In the locker room, Blasingame might be known as a jokester. “They’d [teammates] probably say I make a lot of jokes. They might not be good jokes, but I make a lot of them,” Blasingame added.

Blasingame’s biggest inspiration is her older sister. But, when asked about who her biggest supporter is, Blasingame will make no doubt about it. “My mom, for sure. She comes to everything that she can,” she said.

Majoring in accounting and computer information systems, Blasingame knows what she wants for her future. ”I’d like to go into accounting and hopefully be a recruiter for a company. But something I’ve always thought would be really fun to do is to go to Europe and travel.”

Blasingame might be a killer on the court, but she is focused and driven in the classroom as well. And only being a freshman, the sky is the limit.