Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2003 | 9:35 a.m.
Two years out of high school, Tarin Keith decided she was ready to return to volleyball.
A junior at UNLV, Keith is in her second season with the Rebels after walking on the team. It is the resumption of a career that required rekindling time after high school when four years of the sport left her burned out. What Rebels opponents this year are finding is her rekindled fire has smoldered into a sizable blaze.
"In high school, I played for four years straight, and got maybe a week or two off a year," Keith said. "I didn't play right when I got out of college so it made me want to come back and play."
This season, Keith's been the poster child for walk-on spots. She has been a key player in the Rebels' first month of the season, which has seen them amass a 6-6 overall record. They are 0-1 in the Mountain West Conference after Friday's 3-0 loss at home to San Diego State. They resume conference this weekend with a trip to Colorado State on Friday followed by Wyoming on Saturday.
It was seven years ago that Keith was introduced to volleyball, by a Bishop Gorman coach who liked her because of her height. After initially focusing on basketball, she became hooked on her new sport.
"I wanted to be the best. I wanted to do everything," she said. "'I wanted to travel, I wanted to play in college, and I made it."
She was on the Touch of Gold team that won the 2001 A-Division national championships in Milwaukee, and in 2002, decided to join the UNLV team.
"There's only so many years you can compete, especially in Division I college volleyball," Keith said. "I missed it and I knew that, you have one chance, you have to take advantage of the chances you get. To have someone who'll give you that chance and will take advantage of it, I wouldn't give that up for anything else."
Keith also spent time coaching volleyball, something that she says contributes to her improvement as a player.
"That changed my perception of a lot of things. When you have to break something down and teach it to somebody, you start playing differently. Coaching improved my game because I had to look at myself in a different way ... if I was a coach, what would I want to do if I was my own player."
The improvement from last year to this season has been marked. Her attack numbers are on pace to match last year's, but the noted improvement is on the defensive end of the serve. Last season, Keith tallied 123 digs and 19 blocks in 24 matches. Through 12 matches this year, she's logged 87 digs and 14 blocks.
"Tarin was the surprise last year, and at the end of last year, my expectations were higher," explained coach Deitre Collins. "I'm not surprised, because I know what she's capable of doing."
Keith credits a season-ending meeting with Collins on building her focus on improvement.
"We talked about ... things that I need to do to be a better player, and more of a force on the team," Keith said. "You win the game of volleyball -- whoever makes the least errors at this level, because players are at such a high performance level that you have to make fewer errors. My goal was to come in this year and lessen the errors I was making, and come in and be more consistent and be someone that can help lead the team."
It's the leadership skills that Keith hopes will guide her to future coaching success.
"I have such a love for the game," Keith said, "that I don't want it to ever not be a part of my life."
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