« Volleyball 2017

Ashley Dusek

School
Kentucky
Position
Libero
Major
Communications

Classroom

Ashley Dusek is set to graduate in May of 2018 with a degree in integrated strategic communication. She has earned a 3.469 grade-point average through three years of academic work. Dusek is a three-time All-Southeastern Conference Academic Team honoree as well as a one-time member of the CoSIDA Academic All-Region Team.

Character

Dusek has been a team captain for each of the last two years. During the spring of 2017, she suffered a knee injury that kept her out of the majority of spring competition, all of summer workouts and early season training before returning to practice at full capacity in early September this season. She was a fierce supporter of her team, leading many of the cheers from the bench, and played a particular role in being a mentor to freshman libero, Gabby Curry. Dusek eventually returned to wear the libero jersey in the fourth set of a match vs. Marquette and immediately made her presence felt recording 10 digs in the frame as UK went on to win the match. In the midst of waiting on her time to return to the court, Dusek’s family–in East Bernard, Texas–was affected by Hurricane Harvey. Her family’s home, as well as her grandparents’ home were under water and damaged. Dusek never flinched, however, and continued to be the strong supporter of her team until she made her way back onto the court.

Community

Dusek has been a mainstay in the community since her arrival in Lexington. She has volunteered at such organizations as the Special Olympics, the YMCA and local nursing homes. She has been heavily involved with UK’s backpack program, servicing the community through God’s Pantry. She also volunteered at local elementary schools with their reading programs and promoting “safe kids at school.” Furthermore, she has worked the campus-wide move-in day, helping incoming UK freshmen move into their dorms. Additionally, Dusek is a mainstay at the highly-popular UK volleyball camps.

Competition

Dusek is a two-time honorable mention AVCA All-American (2015, 2016). She has been tabbed the SEC Libero of the Year in each of the last two seasons, as well as being named to the All-SEC squad. Entering her senior season, Dusek sits seventh on UK’s all-time digs leader list with 1,169 career scoops. She became the fifth player in program history during the 25-point rally scoring era to amass 1,000 career digs in just her junior season. She enters her final campaign fourth all-time in the rally-scoring era in career digs. She’s logged 500 or more digs in each of the last two seasons, and her 566 during her sophomore campaign ranks as the third-most in a single season in the 25-point era.