Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Grace College senior volleyball player Kate Millen was awarded the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Susan R. Hellings Award, given annually to the outstanding woman's volleyball player among NCCAA member institutions.
The winner must also be an excellent student-athlete, demonstrating leadership ability and having a clear Christian testimony both on and off the court.
Millen came to Grace after a stellar high school career in Waukesha, Wis., at Heritage Christian High School. She was named to the "Fabulous 50" by Volleyball Magazine, which lists the top 50 high school senior volleyball players in the country. She was recruited by numerous NCAA Division I programs but chose Grace instead, due in part to head coach Candace Moats.
"She chose Grace because she desired to be mentored," Moats said. "She wanted to grow, and I think she sensed that I was about more than volleyball.
"She chose a Christian college because she desired to grow in the Lord more than get the prestige of a Division I athlete."
Four years later, Millen has made her mark on NAIA volleyball. Heading into the Mid-Central Conference Tournament, she had 1,007 career blocks, the second-highest total in NAIA history and just 71 blocks short of the all-time record. She also has 2,190 career kills, just short of the top five in NAIA history.
Both of those totals are easily school records.
"Kate has brought the level of play up," Moats said. "She leads the way with her play. We do not see too many middle hitters that are better than Kate.
"She blocks, is inspirational to the rest of the team, and is confident in her game."
But Millen isn't focused on volleyball only. At Grace, she has been a growth group leader, a camp counselor, a day-care operator and has taken two mission trips, one to Venezuela and one to the Dominican Republic. She also has been an NCCAA scholar-athlete with a grade point average better than 3.7.
"I have coached for 17 years, and I've never had an athlete touch my heart deeper than Kate," Moats said.
Millen led Grace to a third-place finish at the 2000 NCCAA National Championships, and her teams have gone 99-61 in four years at Grace. She has won numerous awards, including being an NCCAA first-team All-America, NCCAA scholar-athlete, NCCAA All-Region, first team all-conference, NAIA Region VIII Player of the Week and Mid-Central Conference Player of the Week.
She has done all this despite playing alongside five starting setters in her four years at Grace, a difficult task for someone who relies on timing with the setter to be at her best.
"Every one of those setters has left with the feeling that they were the most important one to her," Moats said. "She has a love for her teammates and will often go to the prayer chapel here at Grace to pray for her teammates."
The Susan R. Hellings award is named for Susan R. Hellings, a volleyball player at Houghton College in the mid-1970s. She was a starting hitter for her championship team. Hellings exemplified Christian leadership on the court, not allowing anything to stand in the way of team unity. She was an excellent student as demonstrated by being her high school valedictorian.
Hellings graduated Summa Cum Laude from college with a B.A. in mathematics.
She is the mother of two boys. She and her husband, Richard, host Bible studies in their home and are active in their local church. Susan was the type of student-athlete that exemplified all the characteristics that this award is intended to honor.
