{"id":191491,"date":"2025-04-04T20:51:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T01:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=191491"},"modified":"2025-04-04T20:51:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T01:51:18","slug":"klausing-to-play-volleyball-for-nku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/04\/04\/klausing-to-play-volleyball-for-nku\/","title":{"rendered":"Klausing to play volleyball for NKU"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He didn\u2019t play it as a varsity sport, simply because it\u2019s not offered at his high school, or anywhere nearby for that matter. Yet, he\u2019s parlayed his talents into a commitment to play at the Division I college level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lincolnview High School senior Trace Klausing made it official Friday morning by signing a letter of intent to play men\u2019s college volleyball for Northern Kentucky University, which will field a team for the first time during the 2025-2026 academic year. He was surrounded by family and friends during a brief ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His path to this point was a long and time consuming one, including thrice weekly trips to Columbus, along with trips out of state and even out of the country. It began during his freshman year at Lincolnview.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Trace Klausing is all smiles after signing a letter of intent to play men’s volleyball at Northern Kentucky. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always loved volleyball and I\u2019ve always had the dream of playing it,\u201d Klausing said. \u201cMy freshman year is when I knew that was my opportunity to pursue the sport, so I traveled to Dayton and attended a camp there and that was kind of when everything prospered. Then I made a team in Columbus and I had to make the commitment to travel there three times a week, freshman year to senior year. Honestly, it was the best decision I\u2019ve ever made, seeing all the experiences I\u2019ve had, places I\u2019ve traveled \u2013 it\u2019s been crazy with memories I\u2019ll have for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a shock to me (in my) freshman year,\u201d he continued. \u201cGetting into the whole high school groove and stuff like that, but knowing that\u2019s what I wanted to do with my life and embracing it at the same time\u2026with my school work, I knew that was going to be a challenge, so the support from the teachers and the administration made it so much more easier. It was a challenge but it was a challenge I took on and I\u2019m glad I did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the places Klausing has traveled: Florida, Indiana, California, Colorado, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas, Puerto Rico, Italy, Austria, Slovenia and Czech Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, Klausing racked up some pretty lofty accolades, including invitations to the USA Volleyball Indoor NTDP Training Series (four times) and USA Volleyball Beach NTDP Training Series (three times); 2024-2025 A2 Boys Player of the Year; 2024-2025 OVR Player of the Week, and 2022-2023 A2 17 Red MVP. He was also captain of his club team (A2) for two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

While physical talent is a big part of it \u2013 talent that Klausing is blessed with \u2013 he noted the mental aspect of the game is his favorite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMomentum is a big thing in this sport,\u201d he explained. \u201cYou can go down by by 2-3 points and the mental game and the team aspect, you really have to figure it out with your teammates. That\u2019s my favorite part, figuring it out and the reward afterward, winning also.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 6\u20192\u201d Klausing, the son of Heather Klausing and Brandon Breese, will play the libero position at Northern Kentucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe libero is kind of like the quarterback position of the back row as the setter is the quarterback of the front row,\u201d he explained. \u201cI like that role and being the leader of the defensive side. With my height I do have a little bit of an advantage at the libero position \u2013 my range is a lot longer and wider than some others\u2026my wingspan is longer than some liberos and it\u2019s a nice advantage to have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Klausing was recruited by multiple schools, and spoke with the likes of Ohio State and Penn State and he noted the recruiting process was very stressful but rewarding as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s rewarding to be able to get to know the coaches and have them in my pocket down the road and to get to know more about the sport, different philosophies and how they coach,\u201d he stated. \u201cThe men\u2019s volleyball game is small enough so that everybody knows everybody so throughout the recruiting process if you mention a name they probably know who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northern Kentucky will compete in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports He didn\u2019t play it as a varsity sport, simply because it\u2019s not offered at his high school, or anywhere nearby for that matter. Yet, he\u2019s parlayed his talents into a commitment to play at the Division I college level. Lincolnview High School senior Trace Klausing made it official Friday morning by signing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 11:14:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191493,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191491\/revisions\/191493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}