DENVER – As the size of Taylor Duryea's (Logan, Utah/Sky View) toolbox has grown, her volleyball effectiveness has elevated from trusted apprentice to master craftsman.
 
"She's night and day a different player from last year, in her confidence to take big swings and move the ball around the court," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Jenny Glenn said. "She's really hard to defend now because she has multiple shots.
 
"Last year she had a few shots that were her go-to, but now she's developing a nice tool box of shots, which has increased her confidence."
 
Not to suggest that Duryea's first season in an MSU Denver uniform produced something that needed to be torn down and rebuilt.
 
After all, she averaged 2.7 kills per set and was named second-team All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
But Duryea and Glenn put her game under construction in the offseason.
 
"I just wasn't scoring as effectively," Duryea said. "We both knew I could score more with my size and length. Jenny is so knowledgeable. She would have me do box work (hitting while standing on a box, rather than jumping), just to get comfortable with different shots.
 
"Now I have more options if the block is on my favorite shot. I can always have a solution to help the team."
 
If the first two weekends of the season are any indication, she'll pass inspection with flying colors.
 
Duryea is averaging a team-best 3.5 kills per set (third in the RMAC), including 4.1 per set last weekend when she made the all-tournament team at the rugged Colorado Premier Challenge. She is the reigning RMAC Offensive Player of the Week.
 
Duryea and the Roadrunners (4-4) will look to continue their progress this weekend as they open RMAC play with a road trip for matches Friday at Adams State and Saturday at Fort Lewis.
 
"Our focus has been tuning up some things that the Premier brought out and just getting better," Duryea said. "It's a big first week, first conference games and we want to win those. It's exciting when conference starts to see how things are going to go."
 
Even though Duryea was recognized as a quality player last year, and even though she knew she was an improved player heading into this season, she still wasn't named to the preseason All-RMAC team by league coaches.
 
But she said the snub didn't bother her.
 
"I truthfully don't pay a lot of attention to that kind of stuff," Duryea said. "It's not about the awards I can get, it's what can the team get. If I have a horrible night but the team wins, I've got to get to the gym but I'm glad we won. If I have a great night but we lose, it doesn't matter."
 
Duryea's balanced approach and sense of team comes naturally. It would be unusual for the daughter of a Division I men's basketball coach and a Division I volleyball All-American to operate otherwise.
 
Tim and Angie (Knox) Duryea have obviously been very influential. Tim is an assistant coach at Boise State after a long tenure as both the head coach and an assistant at Utah State. Angie is still Colorado State's all-time kills leader.
 
"My mom would still be playing if she could," Duryea said. "She's a gym rat. And I grew up going to her indoor tournaments, to her outdoor tournaments, talking volleyball … I was always in the backyard with her. She helped me develop. She would tell me, 'If you don't have ball control, then we can't pepper,' so I would be like, 'Oh my gosh, I have to do this so I can play with my mom.'
 
"And I've always taken a lot of pride in my dad and the job he does, just because he's so good at it. I've learned so many things from him: being coachable, understanding where a coach is coming from, what kind of a player coaches look for. We're a sports-minded family."
 
Duryea said her parents' positive support has given her the freedom to find the best life path for her.
 
"When I was younger I wanted to be just like my mom, wanted to be just as good as my mom, but as I got older it was more about where can I get the most playing time and where can I make an impact," Duryea said. "I'm sure I could've gone to a lower D-I or somewhere flashy, but that wasn't what was important to me. It wasn't stressed by my parents.
 
"My dad would say, 'Don't go to a school for the name or the division, go to a school that wants you and has a plan for you and where you can make an impact.' My mom is the most humble person and doesn't like to be talked about, even though she's done such great things, and she would say, 'If you don't want to play volleyball in college, you don't have to. Follow what you want to do.'"
 
Still, that meant volleyball.

She spent many years participating in gymnastics, loved softball and baseball, dabbled with dance. She said she just couldn't figure out shooting a basketball very well and more or less avoided the sport, but that was OK with dad.
 
A two-time volleyball all-stater in Utah, Duryea chose Dixie State out of high school.
 
"I hated the recruiting process," Duryea said. "It was weird. I went to a camp there the summer before my senior year of high school. I liked the campus and I liked the coach. It was far from home (six hours) but it was still close. They had a good program.
 
"They offered me, and I thought, 'I won't have to deal with recruiting any more, and this is a good school, sweet let's do it.'"
 
After a while, though, despite loving the volleyball program, players and coaches, Duryea felt "stuck." She wanted to do something different.
 
"I was super unhappy, except when I was in a volleyball game," she said. "My parents were like, 'That can't be your situation.'"
 
She quickly decided MSU Denver, with its downtown campus, its multitude of entertainment options and its close proximity to multiple job opportunities, was the place for her.
 
Oh, and the volleyball program – which has made 18 straight trips to the NCAA Division II tournament – isn't bad either.
 
"I fell in love with the girls here," Duryea said. "I made instant connections with the ones I met, the program was great, I loved Jenny and the way she coached: her culture and being a good person was so important to her."
 
Glenn said that Duryea's passion for playing the sport rubs off on her teammates. Duryea said that doesn't take any extra effort.
 
"I just love volleyball so much," she said. "We always say at practice, 'You have nowhere else to be but in the gym right now.' I really hold on to that. There are so many stresses in life, so many things to do, and the fact that I get to be in the gym, play a sport that I love and get better at that, is so fun to me."