It is no secret to the volleyball players and coaches that Shari Luther is a little on the quiet side.

It is also no secret that she is not the flashiest player on the team.

She is not the loudest or hardest hitter on the team, either.

But without her, the Falcons would be in serious trouble.

‘She’s crucial. One of the anchors,’ senior Kaitlin Jackson said. ‘She’s a leader by example. She’s consistently productive with everything she does. She always produces for us, she’s never a detriment to the team and she’s always doing something positive. She’s a player that everyone wants on their side of the net.’

Leading the Falcons with 196 points, 164 kills and 47 blocks, Luther is off to the hottest start in her career at BG. This season, she has been nearly errorless and her court vision is the best it has ever been.

Coach Denise Van De Walle has seen her grow a lot over the past four years.

‘Luther has always been on the quiet side, but I’ve seen tremendous progress in her as a volleyball player,’ she said. ‘She leads by example. Her work ethic is very good and her performance day in and day out at practice is very good. In the matches, it is excellent.’

While Jackson, Van De Walle and the rest of the team knows she is quiet, Luther isn’t afraid to say she is too.

‘I lead by example,’ Luther said. ‘I do my job and I hope people follow along with that.’

At first, Luther did not want to play volleyball at the collegiate level.

She started playing when she was 12 years old, but did not realize she wanted to play until later in high school. She said when she was being recruited in high school, she thought to herself, ‘maybe I will.’

She sure is glad she did.

‘It’s been filled with lots of good experiences,’ Luther said of her four years as a Falcon. ‘In playing a college sport, I had a ton of experiences I would not have got if I were just a normal student.’

But just because she’s a senior, it does not mean she’s approaching this season different than she would any other.

‘I don’t think about it like I’m a senior,’ Luther said. ‘It’s just competitive nature for me – every game is the same. You go in competitively. You want to beat the other team.’

And she thinks she has done her best to try and beat every team this season by going in competitively.

She said the loss of three big seniors has hurt the team this season and the idea that they’re a young and inexperienced team has not helped, either.

Though Luther is a leader in three big categories – points, kills and assists – so far this season, she refuses to take all the credit.

‘I definitely think it is exciting that I am,’ Luther said of leading in the categories. ‘But I would not be able to get all the kills that I do without great passing and great setting. It’s a team sport, so I’m happy we’re all working together.’

Tomorrow at 7 p.m., Luther and the Falcons (7-9, 0-2 MAC) will work together to try and get their first Mid-American Conference victory against Miami (7-7, 2-0 MAC) at Anderson Arena.

BG is 24-36 all-time against Miami and last year, they beat them in Anderson Arena and lost when they were on the road. The RedHawks have not won in Anderson Arena since 2005.

Though the Falcons have had success at home against the RedHawks in the recent past, Jackson can’t look pass the importance of this match.

‘It’s extremely important,’ she said. ‘I think we have something to prove in this conference. We had a bad start losing to Buffalo and Akron, but I think that this team is a lot better than what we’ve shown so far. We need to send a message to the rest of the conference.’

The RedHawks are now tied for first in the MAC East Division after defeating both Akron and Buffalo last weekend.

On their team, they have the reigning MAC East offensive and defensive players of the week in Andrea Atteberry and Maria Leahy.

Atteberry became the third player in Miami history to record 4,000 career assists, while Leahy averaged 3.62 digs per set last week to go along with 3.25 kills per set. Their coach Carolyn Condit is the second-highest coach in the MAC, behind Van De Walle, and is in her 26th season.

Luther knows the match won’t be easy, but she is ready to take on the challenge.

‘Miami has typically always been a decent team,’ she said. ‘So, we need to go out there and be really aggressive and swing hard and just be really competitive when we play. It’s really important to get this win and it will be a turning point in our season, hopefully.’