Answer Special Call to Serve - King's College

Monarch Sports
King’s Volleyball
Trio Wrapping Up
Memorable Careers
When the current women’s volleyball season comes to an
end, it will mark the end of an era for one of the finest
trios ever to play together for four years. For Katherine “Kat”
Clerici, Kaitlyn Malshefski, and Danielle Belfanti, their journey
together through the rigors of collegiate volleyball had their
share of ups and downs. In the end, each will go down as one of
the finest to ever play their individual positions at King’s.
Clerici, a middle hitter, is a fiery, vocal leader who has
served as team captain since her sophomore year. Malshefski,
an outside hitter, is more reserve on the surface, but possesses
excellent athletic ability and is equally passionate about the
game. Both players are among a select group of six Lady
Monarch players to reach the coveted 1,000-kill plateau in
their careers. Clerici is also challenging several school blocking
records. Belfanti plays the defensive-oriented libero position,
where her extreme confidence and acrobatic style of defensive
play, has enabled her to become the program’s all-time record
holder in digs.
When Lady Monarch head coach Bernie Kachinko
successfully recruited all three players to attend King’s in 2006,
he knew he had a core group of players who would be the
foundation of the program for four years.
With Clerici hailing from Seaford, NY, on Long Island,
Kachinko was unable to see her play in person during the high
school season due to King’s schedule. The Monarch mentor,
however, had seen video of her and thought Clerici had a
great deal of potential. Malshefski was a local product and
enjoyed a solid career at Nanticoke High School where she
was named the Wyoming Valley Conference most valuable
player. Malshefski, who also played basketball at Nanticoke and
is a senior member of the King’s basketball team, impressed
Kachinko with her athletic ability and competitive nature. And
Belfanti? Kachinko predicted to those close to the program that
she would emerge as the best defensive specialist ever to play at
King’s.
While Kachinko fully believed each would make a significant
contribution right away, two of the three came to training camp
as freshmen with doubt and anxiety.
“I came in thinking I wasn’t going to play,” Clerici recalled.
“I remember when Coach Kachinko came to see me during
the club volleyball season and I barely played and did not play
well when I did. I was not a good blocker or a good hitter and I
wondered what he saw in me. But I improved a lot during the
summer before my freshman year. I came in and was able to
mesh with everyone. I learned so much my first season. Coach
worked us hard but I took it all in and ran with it.”
Clerici’s growth can be seen in her accomplishments and
statistics. Earning All-Freedom Conference honors in each of
Shown from left, is Clerici, Belfanti and Malshefski
her first three seasons, Clerici accumulated 1,104 kills as of late
September and is approaching King’s third highest total of 1,255
by Michelle Simcoe from 1992-95. Earlier this season, she also
broke the school-record of 372 total blocks set by Simcoe.
For Malshefski, the college game was a major adjustment
as she could no longer rely on her pure athletic ability. To
be successful at the next level, she admittedly had to make
tremendous improvement in her technique and did not feel she
would play much.
“I did not expect to play or to be one of the go-to hitters when
I came to King’s,” she stated. “I was just happy to be playing
and to have a spot on the team. I played high school volleyball
with a bunch of basketball players and my fundamentals were
not good. The preseason my freshman year was so hard, but my
fundamentals improved throughout the year and continue to
improve each year I play. I feel like I have grown a lot as a player
since I came to King’s.”
Malshefski became just the sixth Lady Monarch to register
1,000 kills earlier this season. A two-time All-Freedom
Conference selection, Malshefski has could also challenge
Simcoe’s third-place total by the end of the season.
Ironically, it was the diminutive Belfanti who fully embraced
the challenge of the collegiate game. Belfanti approached her
career with a much different philosophy than her teammates.
She was self-motivated and came to King’s with the goal of
breaking all the school-records for digs. While the Reading
native admits she may have come to King’s overconfident, her
approach included a tremendous work ethic and a desire to
improve.
However, an unexpected twist occurred shortly after she
arrived at training camp when Kachinko elected to move
her from her beloved libero position to play setter. Kachinko
14 Pride ✦ Fall 2009
(See Volleyball on page 18)