Madelyn, left, and Kat Hutson. Photo by Jodi Rall for BHP.

RHS senior star, freshman phenom help lead volleyball team back to state
By CAROL STUART
For Brentwood Home Page
It’s been a lot happier place at the Hutson household since Madelyn, the senior star, and Kathryn, the freshman phenom, began playing together on the state tournament-bound Ravenwood volleyball team.

The 6-foot-5 Madelyn said the sisters, who open play today at the state tourney in Murfreesboro, are arguing a lot less at home since they’ve bonded on the court this fall.  And that’s been “a true blessing in the house,” says their mom, Jane.

 “We used to fight,” said Madelyn, who at 18 is almost four years older. “I guess we just didn't understand each other. But I think we've learned more about each other now and like how we work and how our mindset is.”

The 6-foot-2 Kat, who has even turned their height into competition, said it’s going to be a whole lot harder now seeing her older sister head off next year to the University of Texas, where she earned a volleyball scholarship with the Final Four regulars.

“We had a conversation not too long ago, how before I knew her, I wasn't going to miss her that much,” Kat said. “And, then just a couple of months before she moves away, I start getting to know her and then I realize ‘Shoot, I'm actually going to miss you now.' ”

Their mother, Jane Hutson, a former Western Kentucky basketball player who is 6-foot-3, said it’s the first time the sisters have ever played on the same team in any sport.

“We've actually never spent much time together because we've always just been doing our own thing,” said Madelyn, who has played on USA junior volleyball teams. “But it's definitely been interesting.”

From little bitty to 6-footers
Anticipating some rough moments, their mom told Lady Raptors coach Tracey Berry “to turn the hose on them” if she ever needed to break up any bickering, using an expression from her Kentucky childhood. There’s only been once or twice, though, that she ever needed to step into between the sisters, Berry said.

“It's just been magical. This is one of the many, many, many reasons I love sports and the life lessons you learn from it,” Jane Hutson said.  “… I believe they're closer now than they have been since they were little bitty. This has given them such a common ground.

“… It's been a blast. I think our youngest has surprised our oldest a little bit, and our youngest also knows the pecking order.”

Of course, it’s been a while since they were little bitty. Kat admits she’s used to players on her club or school teams looking to her to pull ahead because she’s usually the tallest player on her team. But she’s found herself having to defer to her big sister for that role – and also relies on Madelyn to guide her and correct her mistakes.

“They say they’re not that close. But you can see that that admiration they have for each other whether they admit it to each other or not,” Berry said. “They’re always saying, ‘That's my little sis’ or ‘That’s my big sister.’ And Madelyn really does try to mentor Kat quite a bit in the middle.”

But there’s still a lot of competition between them, even when it comes to height.

Madelyn said she was predicted to be around 6-2 but kept growing – she’s even grown a half-inch since January. “They said I was going to be done and then I grew another 1/2 inch -- then I grew another 1/2 inch. But I think I'm about done now.”

Kat is still growing and is tracking about the same as her mother, Jane said. “We don't know where she's going to stop, you just never know.”  Their dad, athletic trainer John Hutson, was also 6-3 “but he shrunk a little,” Madelyn said. The girls mostly get their height from their mom’s family, the older sister added.

Getting the volleyball bug
John ran college track at Lipscomb and also played football in high school. Their mom, whose maiden name was Jane Rockin, still ranks third all time in blocked shots in WKU women’s basketball and played volleyball at high school.

 “I always thought I would play basketball because I literally played basketball since I could walk because of my mom,” said Madelyn, who gave up hoops after her sophomore year.

“Volleyball's just so much more of a team sport. Everybody has to work together, and you get to celebrate every point and everything you do is such a huge deal.”

Madelyn got interested in the sport because her aunt’s best friend in Atlanta is a volleyball coach and she attended camps there through elementary school. She began playing on a rec team in the 5^th grade, then went to school and travel ball.

“I remember we were talking about it in an airport one day, and she said I'm going to start volleyball and it's going to be my sport,” Kat recalls. “And that's when we both played basketball. I remember thinking that would be cool.”

It wasn’t too long before little sister wanted to play, though, and she started about three years earlier age-wise than Madelyn did.

Berry, who has coached sisters before in her 32 years of coaching, says oftentimes the younger sister ends up being better because they want to be like their older sibling plus learn from their sister and spend more time around the sport.

“It's an insane amount of pressure. I always want to be like her,” Kat said. “. . . I always want to be as good as her, and we're kind of always competing to be the best.”

Jane says it wasn’t just the girls but the whole family that got hooked on volleyball. “When we discovered volleyball, we all went, 'Wow this is so fun.' ”

The mom tells about attending a major Atlanta tournament in Madelyn’s first year of travel volleyball, where 750 teams play on 220 courts set up at the World Congress Center – “literally enough spandex to stretch over the city of Atlanta.”

 “We're coming down the escalators, and it's all this big huge panoramic view of like 150 courts and it's like popcorn, just balls flying everywhere, court after court after court. We get off the escalator right where the 18-under girls are playing,” Jane said.

“Well, they're all my size. I'm looking around going, ‘Oh my goodness. This is wonderful -- these are my people!”

Special season will be over soon
Jane, publisher of the new Middle Tennessee Sports Magazine, said she and John always had their daughters playing a sport – although the girls got to choose it. “We both know the value of athletics,” she said. And she’s excited her oldest will now get the college team experience.

Berry says the sisters have similar playing styles, adding that she didn’t know Madelyn at Kat’s age. Both middle hitters are tall, strong, aggressive players, the coach said, although Madelyn is confident in knowing what to do.

In basketball, Kat was more physical and didn’t mind mixing it up with other players, but her older sister “likes to have a net between her and her opponent,” Jane added.

 “We're very different on the court, the way we handle stress and things,” Madelyn notes. “She gets very down on herself if she does something wrong -- I just get mad and then I play better.”

Kat, whose sister often helps pick her up emotionally, says that “playing with my sister has actually made me a lot better person I think.”

“I'm definitely enjoying the moment, but I have thought about it next year. It's going to be harder because she's a leader to all of us and we always look to her. She just guides us through the year. And me being the next tallest, it's going to put more pressure I think on me to fill in her place.”

Their parents have both enjoyed watching this special season with both girls before Madelyn heads off to Austin. Jane, however, has made John man the video camera so she didn’t miss the action and her parents can watch on DVD.

 “It's such a joy and I just want to freeze time,” their mother said. “It's going to be over with way too fast. And I'm sure I'll have to take a lot of tissues with me. This season has flown by at lightning speed and I knew it would. I just wished I could slow it down.”