Volleyball was not always the sport senior outside hitter Mackenzie Roddy wanted to pursue. Up until her sophomore year at Cajon High School in San Bernardino, Calif., Roddy was a tennis player.

Tennis was a family affair for the Roddys, as Jessica and Paige Roddy, Mackenzie’s sisters, played in high school and went on to compete for California Baptist and Concordia, respectively.

The future Huskie, who was named MAC West Offense Player of the week Tuesday, did not have the same attitude toward and passion for tennis as her siblings by her sophomore season.

“Well, when I was a freshman in high school I started realizing that I did not have as much passion for tennis as my sisters did,” Roddy said. “I was a good amount taller than both of them so my high school volleyball coach suggested that [I] participate in some club tryouts.

“I just went to some tryouts. I didn’t have any pads or anything and [I] tried out and I made a team. I loved it. I found a new passion for volleyball that I didn’t have in tennis.”

Now in her final season donning cardinal and black, Roddy has seen an extensive change in her game since her inaugural season as a Huskie.

“The biggest thing that I have improved is my defense and my passing,” Roddy said. “I was recruited as a middle utility and I was more of just a hitter and a blocker, but as I progressed into my sophomore year I really focused on my serve receive and my defense and getting to be more of an all-around player, and I think that has been very drastically improved since my freshman year.”

Playing 100 sets her freshman year, Roddy collected just four assists. She posted 26 and 18 in her sophomore and junior seasons, respectively, and has posted three in the Huskies’ first three games this season.

Roddy has accumulated 720 digs in her time at NIU and is looking for a third consecutive campaign with 300-plus digs. She reached the 1,000 career kills milestone last year and has a chance to reach the same number in digs.

In addition to being named MAC West Offense Player of the week Tuesday, Roddy’s early season accolades consist of honors on the Preseason All-MAC and the NIU Invitational All-Tournament teams.

“It was pretty exciting,” Roddy said. “I’ve never been MAC Offensive Player of the Week so that was something that I was really excited about, and it was really good to have the weekend have that sort of ending to it.”

Roddy finished the weekend with 55 kills (4.58 kills per set) and a .375 attack percentage, as well as 33 digs (2.75 digs per set).

“Our biggest goal is to straight-out win,” Roddy said. “But, it would be nice to get another MAC Championship banner here in the gym, and personally I know that I’m just shy of 300 digs to get to 1,000 career digs so that’s a little goal that I have for myself.”