Morgan Bergren

Classroom

University of Kentucky setter Morgan Bergren owns an impressive 3.734 grade-point average and is a kinesiology and health promotion major. Bergen has appeared on the SEC Academic Honor Roll during every year of college, earned Dean’s List honors for five semesters and was a member of the Athletic Director’s honor roll twice. Bergren was inducted into the Frank G. Ham Society of Character in 2014-15. The Society of Character annually honors Wildcats who have shown an extraordinary commitment to academic excellence, athletic participation, personal development, career preparation and serving as a role model. The SOC was founded during the 1998-99 school year and is named in honor of Frank Ham, a long-time UK administrator. In addition, Bergen has also been a member of the SAAC for two years.

Character

Kentucky Coach Craig Skinner has a great amount of respect for Bergren and speaks very highly of her character. Specifically he’s said, “Morgan leads our team in community service. She has been a mentor in the community to our city’s youth. She is relentless about coaching and giving back to the sport that has given her so much. She is very passionate about coaching kids during our camps, and always connects with the younger kids who are shy. Additionally, Morgan is the first to sign autographs and connect with our fans following our matches. I remember meeting with a former player of ours, setter Alyssa Gergins, who was fighting for playing time with Morgan. She said, ‘Morgan genuinely wanted me to be really good, and that says a lot about her because I wanted her starting job.’ She is a selfless person, a tremendous leader on and off of the court and a relentless competitor. She represents our program with class and is an example of the kind of student-athlete we want our program to embody.”

Community

Bergren has been a mainstay in working within the community as a student-athlete. She has been involved in everything from ringing the bell during the Holidays for the Salvation Army, to volunteering and visiting children and adults who are suffering at places like the Lexington VA, UK Children’s Hospital, Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Center and the Boys and Girls club.

As a member of the SAAC, she has volunteered for God’s Pantry’s local backpack program. She helped coordinate the UK Children’s Hospital blanket project, volunteered at the local YMCA and been involved with Read Across America. She has impacted campus life volunteering with the UK move-in event in which she helps incoming students move into their dorms, as well as the back-to-school picnic. She has also spent several years working with the Gear Up program, through which she has mentored two middle school children via Skype.

Bergren joined a group of UK student-athletes and staff members for a 10-day trip to Ethiopia. The Kentucky contingent serves the people of Ethiopia for several days provide clothing, working with them in their daily projects and playing sports and games with them. Bergren’s major take from the experience was the value in which Ethiopians place in relationships. The conversational part of their time was more significant than the clothing they brought to share or the time spent working or playing.

Competition

Bergren was named a second-team All-American following her junior campaign in 2014. She is a 2014 AVCA All-Southeast Region First Team selection and a 2014 All-SEC selection. She has twice earned the SEC Player of the Week honor. As a junior, she dished out 1,291 assists, second in Kentucky’s rally scoring era record books. She also directed the UK offense to a league-best 14.25 kills-per-set and a .272 hitting percentage, second-best in the conference. She posted eight double-doubles, led the team in blocks eight times and kills once and ranked in the top three on the team in aces (28) and blocks (91) along with her team-best assists total and a team-best .420 hitting clip with 158 kills. Furthermore, she set a Memorial Coliseum and UK record with a 1.000 hitting percentage with at least 10 attempts on a 10-for-10 night in a win over Arkansas as a junior.

Entering her senior season, she has started for each of the last two seasons. She owns the program-record in the rally scoring era with 55 assists in a match during a four-set match. Bergren has posted nine matches with 50 or more assists and once reached the 60-assist plateau. Bergren has garnered 11 double-doubles in her career, while ranking ninth all-time in the program’s record books with 2,654 career assists. She is on pace to finish in the top five in career assists totals since the inception of the program in 1977.