1 June 2023
EMPORIA (KSNT) – Ken Murczek’s first recruiting class brings a current Hornet’s sister to Emporia.
“It’s really cool that we have this connection to Emporia, even though we never really lived here,” ESU rightside/outside hitter Orianna Clements said.
Orianna Clements is a graduate student and leader for Hornet volleyball. She averaged more than seven kills per game the past season, and even racked up five assists in one game.
Ori isn’t the only Clements girl on the team anymore. Her sister, Emma, is also going to be a Hornet.
“Coming into junior year, it was either OSU or ESU,” Emma Clements said. “Then, I got my offer to play volleyball and I was like, ‘It’s a no brainer at this point.'”
They’re typical sisters with a strong mix of similarities and differences.
“We’re very similar,” Orianna Clements said. “We play very similar and we look very similar, and we walk the same, but she has different strengths than I do.”
Orianna and Emma are six years apart, so this will be their first time playing together.
“I actually coached her when she was in YMCA in elementary and middle school, so I’ve coached her before, but I’ve never actually played with her,” Orianna Clements said.
Emma didn’t get any preferential treatment, she said.
“I love her, but she was always really on my head because she always wanted me to be the best, which was amazing, but I was always getting the most critiques,” Emma Clements said. “It helped me in the long run.”
Working out with a college volleyball player every summer has Emma ready to be one herself.
“When she would come home for the summers, I would join her in her college workouts, so I was able to see and get that experience from the very beginning,” Emma Clements said.
Emma’s also socially ready.
“She’s pretty good friends with some of the teammates I have now from coming to visit me,” Orianna Clements said.
The sisters are not the only members of their biological family to be a part of the Hornet family.
“My grandpa played there,” Emma Clements said. “My uncle played there. My aunt ran track and I have a cousin on the cheer team. Orianna’s playing and it’s just exciting to have that family ties.”
Now, they get to navigate a new coach together, too. Murczek took over the program in January.
“Navigating the new city, the new experience that’s college and everything like classes, having Orianna by my side will make it 10x easier,” Emma Clements said. “Just having that family there, I won’t get as homesick because I have my home.”
Emporia State volleyball begins its season Sept. 1 at the Kansas City Classic.