Hall of Fame
Once every so often an athlete will come around that will change the face of the team and even the program forever. For Bentley volleyball, this athlete was Sue Kosh, now Sue Murphy.
“When Sue arrived at Bentley, she took over right away as setter,” said coach Sandy Hoffman of her valuable catalyst back in 2002. “She ran the offense for the four-year period that she was here. Our volleyball game really transposed into a quick offense mainly because of her abilities and because of the other hall of famers.”
Throughout her career as a Falcon, the bubbly four-year starter made her mark on both Bentley volleyball as well as on Northeast-10 Conference volleyball. In her junior and senior seasons, Sue was named the Norhteast-10 Player of the Year and team MVP. In her final year at Bentley in 1991, she was named the Falcons most Outstanding Female Senior Athlete. Sue was a three-time first-team All-NE-10 and AVCA Division II All-New England, and as a freshman she was named the NE-10 Rookie of the Year and second-team All-Conference selection.
She was an integral member of the 1988 squad that set records for wins in season (45) and highest winning percentage (.938). Not surprisingly, Bentley was the NE-10 regular season champion with a perfect 8-0 record, and won the tournament championship by dismantling Springfield 3-0. In that tournament, Sue severely sprained her ankle in pool play. She was forced to sit two matches, but returned in the finals to record 38 assists.
Coach Hoffman remembered a similar story from the Navy tournament. “One highlight of Sue's career came at the prestigious Naval Academy Tourney. We had a tough championship match versus Navy in front of all the cadets. Sue got injured but continued to play. We came back from being down and she led us to victory. It was a great win for our program and for Sue and many of her teammates who are here tonight.”
Her numbers support these fabulous awards. The Hamden, Connecticut native still holds the record for assists in a single match as she tallied 73 against New Haven in 1987. Sue held the single-season record for assists with 1232 until 2001 when Alyssa Carter totaled 1370 in one season. Her career totals feature the fourth best total for service aces in Bentley history with 207. Sue also owned the career record for assists until 2008 with 4,437.
