Coro: Murillo pops with power

Eight years ago, Yeny Murillo never had played volleyball.

Three years ago, Murillo never had spoken English.

Two weeks ago, Murillo never had played a Division I match.

Her English and her volleyball have come a long way already to rank fifth in the WAC for kills after the Lopes' 5-1 start, but she speaks volumes with the thunder of her hits.

There was a recent point when GCU head coach Tim Nollan was turned toward assistant coach Jake Hong and told him, "That sounded good," after a Murillo kill. There was another point when spectators at Gonzaga froze and gasped because Murillo buried a ball into the feet of a blocker coming off the net.

Opponents would never know Murillo is as sweet as the trademark gelatin treats of Andalucia, Colombia, her hometown. While accumulating 82 kills heading into this weekend's GCU Invitational at GCU Arena, Murillo wears a game face like a mask as she brings spunky spikes with braids flying off the top of her 6-foot frame.

"I like to look at the people and intimidate them while we're playing," Murillo said. "I get more comfortable. When we're on the court, you are my enemy right now. We cannot be friends when you're on the other side of the net."

Yeny (pronounced Jenny) Liseth Montoya Murillo grew up much more easygoing in the lush, riverside town of 17,500 residents. Murillo's mother, Maria Esther, worked in corn fields while raising her and her two older sisters as a single parent. Once Murillo's sisters earned jobs, they took care of their mother so she could quit work, but Maria did not want Yeny staying home too.

She pushed her out of the house to try volleyball even though nobody played the sport in their family. Murillo hated it, mostly because of the 7 a.m. start times. She moved on to basketball, soccer, track and playing trumpet before circling back to volleyball at age 13.

22230 "Everyone went, 'She's so tall,' " Murillo said. "My coach started focusing on me. I was thinking, 'I like this. This is nice. Maybe I could be good at this.' So I started focusing more and practicing. If I'm going to be on the team, I need to be good."

Murillo attended school in the mornings, took a 30-minute walk home to eat lunch and do the family's dishes, and then walked for another 30 minutes back to practice each day. Washing one plate and walking across GCU's campus is easy, almost like she is making the college volleyball transition seem to be.

Murillo played two seasons at Arizona Western, a junior college in Yuma, after arriving from Colombia without any grasp of English. She initially avoided conversation by keeping on her earbuds but then used a mix of English-speaking friends, international students who also were learning English, a teammate who could translate and television shows to quickly adapt while thriving on the court.

Arizona Western head coach Lorayne Chandler alerted Nollan about Murillo during Murillo's Region I MVP sophomore season. Nollan drove to Yuma to watch a playoff match and remained curious during warmups.

"When the match started, she finally got a couple of balls she could get a hold of and she unloaded," Nollan said. "I thought, 'That's a live arm.' That translates to the next level, no question. I watched how she interacts with teammates, her energy and her passion for winning and competing. She would sit back in serve receive and tell the server to serve her because she's that competitive."

Murillo still has upside in various areas, such as back-row attacking, but she immediately gave GCU "a terminator," as Nollan calls her ability to score points from the outside.

"She picked up right away, six points into the first match, what we needed and wanted," Nollan said.

In her Division I debut, Murillo recorded 18 kills against New Mexico and catapulted that effort into being the Northern Colorado Classic MVP for racking up 47 kills during a three-match GCU sweep.

"It's really hard sometimes because the level is higher so you have to put more effort," Murillo said. "But it's going really well right now. We had two good tournaments, but we know we have to keep working on things. It was helpful to see what is missing to be the great player that I want to be.

"I really like my team. They support me all the time and the same with the coaches. They're always helping to make me better."

It was not easy for Murillo's mother to see her leave their closeknit, peaceful town, but she is soothed with pride about Murillo's success and live-streamed matches. She will be watching GCU TV the next two weekends for two campus tournaments, starting with an expected large turnout for a 7 p.m. home opener Friday against Eastern Washington at GCU Arena.

Lopes fans immediately will appreciate Murillo's connection with freshman setter Klaire Mitchell. With time, they will get to know Murillo's smile and friendliness, qualities that opponents do not see as they try to handle her power and steely competitiveness.

"People think I'm mean," Murillo said. "When they take the time to know me, they're like, 'Oh, you're nice.' "

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Klaire Mitchell

Yeny Murillo

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