Volleyball
Favorite athlete: Chase Utley
Favorite team: Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning our conference last season
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Ducking for a serve that was going out, but accidentally getting hit in the butt.
Music on iPod: Drake, Nicky Minaj, Rihanna
Future plans: Attend dental school and become a pediatric dentist or orthodontist
Words to live by: ‘There’s no ‘I’ in team.’
One goal before turning 30: To finish school and start my career
One thing people don’t know about me: I want to try skydiving
Jayne Mulhern isn’t the flashiest player on the volleyball court, and the Central Bucks South senior won’t find her name in the headlines. But talk to coach Ulana Keer, and it’s clear that Mulhern – the team’s defensive libero - has played a major role in the Titans’ ascent to the top of the Continental Conference standings.
“To be a defensive-minded player is always number one in my book,” Keer said. “A kid that always is willing to put herself on the ground and go after balls – that says a lot about her character.
“That’s not an easy job. It’s always glamorous to be in an offensive position. It’s not glamorous to be in a defensive position in volleyball because all the people want to know is how many aces and kills did you have. They don’t really want to know how many digs did you have.”
The fact that she’s not in the spotlight doesn’t faze Mulhern. The senior captain – a rare four-year varsity starter – is ecstatic to be part of the program’s rise to the top in recent years.
“It’s been so much fun,” she said. “Looking back from ninth grade until now, it’s been a roller coaster ride, but it’s a great way to end it to have a really fun and exciting last season.
“We’re just looking forward to keep going and progressing to the end.”
Mulhern has been playing volleyball since she was in fifth grade, following in the footsteps of her sister Abbey. As a youngster, she also played soccer, swam and was involved in both dance and gymnastics, but it was volleyball that stuck.
“I guess it was partly because of the people I met playing volleyball,” Mulhern said. “All the people I’ve met throughout the years – you become so close with all of them, and that’s a big aspect.”
But it was more than just the people. Mulhern also enjoyed the sport and competed for her St. Joseph/St. Robert CYO team in addition to joining the club circuit.
“That’s definitely been important,” Mulhern said of playing club. “I feel like it’s a different level – there are so many more girls from so many schools, so many leagues all around the area, plus we travel.”
“I have gone to Baltimore and Washington, DC, and you see stronger teams from all around the nation – teams from Florida, California and Texas. It’s a whole different level of play.”
Mulhern got her first taste of club volleyball playing for BucksMont and most recently competed with GPS Crush. She also played for Xceleration and High Line, and thanks in no small part to that club experience, Mulhern was asked to step into a starting varsity role as a freshman.
“It was nerveracking,” she said. “I remember our first game was against Quakertown, and I was very nervous.
“When I was a freshman, the team wasn’t that strong, but it was really exciting to play at a higher level. Just going from eighth grade to varsity volleyball – even though our team wasn’t that good, we still played harder teams, so it was quite an adjustment and jump, but it was definitely exciting.”
When Mulhern came on board, Keer was the junior varsity coach but knew the Titans had inherited a player who would be a rock on defense.
“She’s a very smart player,” the Titans’ coach said. “When she stepped in as a ninth grader, what was valuable to her then was her body position – her body positioning is very good.
“She’s technically very good in her stance, and she’s always ready to receive the ball. She’s never standing straight up, and she’s never looking around. She’s always in position.”
Beyond that, Mulhern, according to Keer, is very coachable.
“She has been very consistent for the most part,” South’s coach said. “She’s always energetic. She’s a great listener, and she wants to please her teammates and herself.”
Laying your body on the line to play defense can be a thankless job, but Mulhern has excelled.
“I think the key to playing libero is shaking things off,” she said. “I feel like it’s a position where a lot of errors can be made, but you have to get the next point and focus on the next thing.
“I like it because you have to go for everything – you’re always moving.”
Mulhern – who also excels in the classroom – admits she overthinks things sometimes.
“I have to go with what my body says, my instincts,” she said. “You can’t really overthink.”
As the Titans’ primary pass receiver, Mulhern is always in the middle of the action.
“On average, she digs or receives anywhere between 20-40 passes per match,” Keer said. “Playing 14-16 teams per year in head-to-head matches, that accounts for a minimum of 1,280 digs over four years.”
Throw in tournaments as well as postseason play, and Kerr estimates that Mulhern has accounted for between two and three thousand digs.
“Imagine the best players across our district serving and hitting at you, and you take that grueling punishing level of attacking,” Keer said. “Defense wins games, defense is the best answer to a great offense.
“There is nothing better for our team than Jayne digging the best hitters in the league. This sends a strong message to opposing teams that she means business. Jayne is all about business – talking to her teammates, leading them on where to go with positioning on how to stay low and how to be prepared.”
Mulhern is a captain and leader of an experienced and talented Titan squad.
“She is a leader on the court, in the school and in her community,” Keer said. “She is a smart, dedicated young lady who loves volleyball.”
Volleyball is just one piece of Mulhern’s life. An excellent student, she is a member of the National Honor Society, Key Club and POPS (Power of Positive Students). She takes a full course load of honors and AP classes.
After taking AP chemistry, AP calculus and AP statistics as a junior, Mulhern is taking a more advanced AP calculus class this year as well as AP Spanish and AP biology. She plans to major in biology and is interested in attending a large school. She has applied to Penn State and the University of Miami, among others.
Her long-term goal is to become a pediatric dentist or orthodontist – an interest that was sparked when she shadowed her own dentist this past summer as her graduation project.
“I just loved it,” Mulhern said. “He’s been my dentist since I was really, really young, and I thought it would be an interesting idea to shadow him, and I ended up really enjoying it.”
She traveled to Jefferson Hospital and had an opportunity to see some non-traditional patients.
“He said I could go to Doylestown and see the typical kids, but down in the city there was such a variety,” Mulhern said. “He also works with autistic children and autistic adults and adults with special needs, which was really, really cool to see.”
It was an experience that shaped Mulhern’s future, but for now, she’s enjoying her present and her final high school volleyball season. The Titans – who had never advanced out of pool play in a tournament – made history when they won their first tournament earlier this year at Quakertown.
“When I was a freshman, we had a lot of good freshmen come in, and we have six seniors now,” Mulhern said. “Coach Keer helped us and worked with us, and we have had so much time to really connect and bond. We all work well together.
“It’s big steps we’re taking this year. It’s really awesome to see.”
Mulhern, an unsung hero, has quietly contributed to those big steps.
