Volleyball Metro Player of the Year Kennedi Orr stars on world stage but leading Eagan to state never gets old

Spend time with Eagan junior Kennedi Orr and two things stand out: Her hands are amazing, large with long, smooth fingers that can make a volleyball do just about anything she wants. Equally impressive is her comfort with her place as the most well-rounded player in the state, the result of what those hands allow her to do.

Orr is officially listed as a setter, the position she will play when she moves on to play collegiately at Nebraska. But at Eagan, she's so much more. She digs and passes with uncanny accuracy, and when she moves to the front row, she becomes a feared hitter.

"She's a setter, but we need her to do so much more," Eagan coach Kathy Gillen said.

It's that versatility, the ability to just about anything on the court and do it well, that has earned Orr the 2019 Star Tribune Metro Volleyball Player of the Year.

Orr said playing multiple positions has broadened her overall game. "I learn something new from hitting every day," she said. "Playing the all-around game has helped with my volleyball IQ."

Going into the last week of the section playoffs, Orr's stats reflected her all-around skills, with 170 kills and 269 set assists in only 19 matches.

Still, it's at setter that Orr's talents are most appreciated. As Gillen puts it: "Have you seen her set? It's just amazing."

"I've always loved volleyball," she said. "My whole family played it, my sister played it from a young age. For me, it's always been 'Well, this is my sport.'"

If it was early exposure that put Orr on the right path, it was following around her older sister Brie — a two-time All-Metro first-team selection at Eagan who is now a junior setter at Iowa — that kindled her passion. Anything Brie did, Kennedi followed.

"Brie started playing volleyball when she was 9, so I was 5 when I started," she said. "I started watching every single one of her games. She was a middle [hitter] at first, so I would grab a ball from the cart and I'd hit against a wall, just for fun."

Said Gillen, who has coached both Orr sisters, ''If Brie held a ball, Kennedi held a ball."

As Kennedi grew and honed her talents, her reputation grew with her. She started playing up an age group, then two, for her club team. She became a member of the Eagan varsity team — perhaps the premier high school volleyball program in the state — as a seventh-grader.

"That was really cool, to get to experience different things," she said. "Like, the girls we played against, the day after they got back [from the tournament] they'd go back and play for their professional teams, so it was like we were playing profesional volleyball, which was super cool."

Orr stood out, taking home the honor of the tournament's top setter while helping the Americans win the gold medal.

All the while, her mind was on her high school team. Here she was, a bona fide world traveler, yet she couldn't leave home behind.

"I was checking their scores and what was going on every day," Orr said. "I missed my team."

After the tournament was over and a day or two to reacclimate, Orr was back on the familiar court at Eagan, leading the Wildcats to an undefeated record.

It led to Eagan's seventh consecutive state tournament berth. Despite playing at some of volleyball's highest levels, Orr said, the state tournament is a reward that never gets old.