Senior Year (2014)

Appeared and started in all 33 matches, while playing in all 124 sets … named an AVCA All-America honorable mention selection … earned AVCA All-Region honors … named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and Setter of the Year, in addition to earning All-MVC First-Team honors … named the Illinois State Linda Herman Most Valuable Player … earned MVC Offensive Player of the Week honors four times … selected to the George Washington Colonials Challenge All-Tournament Team … finished her career ranking fifth in school history in career assists (3,870) and assists per set (10.00) … set a career high with 64 assists against Drake (10/18), a total matching the ninth-highest single-match total in Redbird Arena history … her 1,372 assists in 2014 rank as the 10th-highest single-season total in school history … tallied a career-best 144 kills and a .304 hitting percentage, totals that ranked second among Redbird players … registered 325 digs, ranking fourth on the team … set, and matched, a career high in points (10) on three occasions … matched her career high of eight kills three times … recorded 30-plus assists in all 33 matches … recorded 40-plus assists 19 times … recorded 50-plus assists five times … recorded 19 double-doubles (assists/digs) … set a career high with 24 digs against Missouri State (11/28) … named MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week two times … named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team for the second-consecutive year.

Junior Year (2013)

Appeared in all 32 matches, starting all but one … named Illinois State’s Most Improved Player … ranked first on the team in assists (1,230), assists per set (10.51), service aces (34) and service aces per set (0.29) … ranked third in digs per set (2.49) and fourth in digs (291) … dished out 59 assists against IUPUI (8/30) and tallied 50 or more assists in six matches … recorded at least 24 assists in all but one match … recorded 10 double-doubles (assists/digs) … recorded a service ace in 17 matches … selected as MVC Offensive Player of the Week (10/14) … named the MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week (10/26) … was a MVC Scholar-Athlete First-Team selection … named to AFNI and MVC academic honor rolls.

Sophomore Year (2012)

Appeared and started in all 30 matches … ranked first on the team in assists (1,133) and assists per set (10.30) … ranked third in digs (290) and fourth in service aces (21) … recorded two or more kills in all but five matches … posted 13 double-double performances (digs/assists) … recorded 20 digs against Oregon State (9/1) … was a Toledo Rocket Classic All-Tournament Team selection … named to AFNI and MVC academic honor rolls.

Freshman Year (2011)

Appeared in 18 matches and 36 sets … ranked second on the team in assists (135) and assists per set (3.75) … tallied five or more assists in 12 matches … recorded a double-double, with 14 assists and 13 digs, against Missouri State (9/16) … named to AFNI and MVC academic honor rolls … earned MVC Commissioner’s Excellence Award.

Prior to ISU

Three-year starter at Eureka High School … named the Eureka High School MVP and Tri-State Challenge All-Tournament MVP … recorded 2,031 career assists … averaged 7.8 assists-per-game over her career … earned first-team all-conference honors during her sophomore, junior and senior seasons … was named to the all-district first team as a senior and the all-district second-team as a junior and sophomore … led the conference in assists-per-game with as a junior (7.99) and sophomore (7.69) … led the team to conference championships as a sophomore and junior.

Personal

Kaitlyn Amanda Early … born November 15, 1992 … daughter of Michael and Debbie Early … has one brother (Colin) … major is math teacher education.