Feature: She Can Dig It

Courtesy of Suffolk.edu Tony Ferullo of Suffolk University's Public Affairs Office

Volleyball player Kenzley Bell wins top conference honors as the league's Libero of the Year

While on a 2019 recruiting trip, Scott Blanchard settled into the stands at an Atlanta club tournament to watch Kenzley Bell play volleyball for the first time. One set told him everything he needed to know.

"Kenzley made five plays in the first five minutes that I'd never seen before," says the Suffolk head women's volleyball coach. "I knew I had to get her to Boston to play for us."

Ever since she arrived at Suffolk, Bell, Class of 2023, has been wowing volleyball fans with her back-court skills. Late this fall she was named the 2022 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Libero of the Year—the first time in program history that a Suffolk volleyball player captured a major conference award.

Bell, the team's co-captain, was also selected to the All-CCC women's volleyball first team. Her teammates Harmony Johnson, Class of 2023, and McKenna Keowen, Class of 2025, were named to the second team, and Alina Nowakowski, Class of 2025, earned a spot on the third team.

A libero and a leader

In volleyball, the libero is a defensive specialist who, like a soccer goalie, wears a different color uniform from the rest of the team. A highly skilled passer, the libero rotates along the back row of players and can only dig—that is, hit the ball before it strikes the court—and never complete an attack hit above the net.

"We geared our defense and blocking to where Kenzley was at all times," says Blanchard, whose 2022 team tied the program record for wins with a 20-10 record and fourth-place finish in the CCC standings, the highest league ranking in program history.

"I love when the other team attacks and I get to dig all those balls up," Bell says. "I'm a very competitive person who doesn't want to lose."

"We geared our defense and blocking to where Kenzley was at all times. She's been a tremendous player and leader who knew how to keep everyone engaged."

Scott BlanchardHead Volleyball Coach

Originally from Lake Park, Georgia, Bell is just the third player in program history to join the 1,000-dig club. She finished her career with 1,101 total digs, second only Colbey Kennedy, BA '14, with 1,250.

"Kenzley would have been Suffolk's all-time leader if her sophomore season hadn't been canceled due to the pandemic," says Blanchard, whose staff includes assistant coaches Hannah Fabiano, BS '21, and Talia Lombardo, BFA '19. "She has been a tremendous player and leader who knew how to keep everyone engaged."

Bell—who shared co-captain duties with teammates Johnson and Emily Wheeler, Class of 2024—says that encouraging her teammates came naturally to her. She also credits Blanchard for setting the tone. "He really cares about his players as people, and not just how we perform on the court," says Bell, who has invited Blanchard to her wedding in 2023. "He's like a second dad to me."

A future in . . . football

A marketing major, Bell spent the fall semester researching a significant sports world issue: transgender athletes. She built a 20-question survey that she distributed to female athletes at Suffolk, wrote a paper on her findings, and presented it to Skip (Arthur) Perham, director of the Sports Management Program at the Sawyer Business School.

"The results show that people are very opinionated on both sides of the issue," says Bell, who will share her paper with Suffolk Director of Athletics Cary McConnell. "There are no transgender athletes at Suffolk now, but when there are, the NCAA has guidelines that the University will certainly implement to make sure everyone feels included."

Bell's dad, Kerwin Bell—a former quarterback at the University of Florida and for a number of National Football League teams—is now head football coach at Western Carolina University, where her brother, Kade Bell, is the offensive coordinator.

With so much football is in the family DNA, Bell hopes to work in marketing or public relations for a college or pro football team after graduation. "Football is my favorite sport and I just want to be part of that atmosphere," she says.