By: By Joseph Feldman
KENNESAW, Ga. – On the verge of clinching their second straight ASUN regular season Championship, the Kennesaw State volleyball team has signed two players to insure their run of success continues.
The Owls signed setter Jessie Cohen and outside hitter Dani Ballou on November 8, 2017.
"The two young women that have signed NLI's, Dani Ballou and Jessie Cohen, are two people, athletes, families, attitudes and mentalities, that fit into exactly what Kennesaw State Volleyball has become," head coach
Keith Schunzel said. "Our program has developed into what it is, not only because we have great athletes and players here, but even more so because we have driven, self-motivated, caring student-athletes, who are open to challenges, treat others well and are fiercely determined at working to keep achieving great things. Jessie and Dani fit that mold perfectly."
Cohen finished First-Team All State and First-Team All Region her senior season while leading Etowah High School to the State Championship match. She has been named to the All-County Team and All-Area Team multiple times. Cohen played for A5 in club.
"Jessie has had an exceptionally decorated club and high school career, winning multiple open level national championships with A5 and taking Etowah HS to that program's first ever state title game, so the first thing that's glaringly obvious is that this is a player who knows how to win," Schunzel said. "At the setting position, where making your teammates better, leading others and creating for your team is so important, having someone such as Jessie with her pedigree of knowing how to win is obviously exciting. It's easy to talk about Jessie's skill as a setter, which she does extremely well. However, her ability to connect to teammates, her pure unbridled passion for this sport and her love of Kennesaw State, were all things that stood out tremendously during her recruiting. Jessie Cohen could be playing volleyball at many programs around this country, so we're thrilled she's going to be an Owl and can't wait to see her career develop."
Ballou played middle in high school before transitioning to outside hitter for her senior year where she was named Tampa Bay Area First Team while leading the team in kills as team captain. After her junior season, she was Tampa Bay Area Second Team.
"We discovered Dani while she was playing for former KSU Libero Camille Pedraza, down in the Tampa Bay area," Schunzel said. "Camille said she had a talented, incredibly hard working middle blocker who they were moving to an outside attacker, and who was going to be a heck of a player. She has a heavy arm who's going to terminate a lot of balls in her career for us. Dani is going to train into one heck of a six-rotation outside who will be able to impact the game in many ways, front and back row. She loves the challenge of what the back row brings and has already made huge strides in that area. What makes Dani special, however, is how hard she works and how driven she is to be great."
Kennesaw State has one weekend left in the regular season as they head to Stetson and FGCU.
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