Standout's career winding down

Senior outside hitter Amanda Welter is an imposing figure.\nAt 6-foot-3, with sturdy shoulders and a hammer for an arm, she is big. But she's also good. \nHer statistics reflect her physical stature: 1,022 career kills, a .273 career hitting percentage and back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament. \nBut her actions often reflect a pouting, moody 3-year-old who hasn't grown up: tantrums, flailing arms and going from a frown to a smile in seconds. Welter's emotions control her and emit an aura of confidence, competitiveness and discontent with the volleyball team's current Big Ten slide. \nOne minute, a scrunched eyebrow. The next, a fist-pumping outburst. \nBut her uneasiness regarding the Hoosiers' disappointing season carries merit. It's Welter who's been coach Katie Weismiller's go-to-player and it's Welter's career that slowly -- and bitterly -- slips away with each IU defeat. \n"It's tough," Welter said of coming face-to-face with the end of her IU career. "I wanted to have an impact, to change the program. I don't want IU volleyball to take a step down."\nThe Cincinnati native, who entered Weismiller's lineup as a regular at the onset of her sophomore season, has done her part in helping IU turn the corner. \nBut her chances of making another post-season appearance dwindled after IU's first-half league struggles. \n"We," she slowly and rhythmically says, "have some work to do."\nWelter maintains a team-first attitude, but her line on the stat sheet glitters. In the final game of the Hoosiers' Oct. 14 three-game pounding of Purdue, Welter became just the seventh player in IU history to record 1,000 career kills. One would think Welter's response would include her routine arm-waving and repeated jumping, but she deflected the attention. She said she knew nothing of the approaching milestone. \n "I had no idea," Welter said. "My mom started to say something (about nearing 1,000 kills), but she stopped. It feels good, but I don't pay attention to individual stats."\n Welter, who holds the Mother McAuley (Cincinnati) High School career kills record and was one of three basketball players in school history to register 1,000 career points, won't spring to the tip-top of IU's kills list, but she'll come close. Ryann Conners finished her IU career last year, leaving with 1,533 kills. Welter credits Conners, a four-year starter, with helping her develop her own skills since arriving in Bloomington, the same way IU's current young front line directs praise toward her. \nWelter has helped nurture seven freshmen, three of whom sit right behind her in kills this season, and all of whom have at least two more seasons in cream and crimson.\n"I love playing with Amanda," freshman outside hitter Nicole Hill said. "I can't imagine playing without her. She's never negative, and she just dominates."\nOne of the reasons teammates enjoy Welter's on-court presence lies in her emotion, her antics, her pick-me-up attitude. \n"She whips her arms and smiles real big," sophomore outside hitter Hillary Toivonen said. "We feed off that."\nWhile her emotions sit well with her as she battles her remaining 10 games, barring a post-season berth, her teammates and coaches speak gloomily about the prospects of playing next season without their leader; they'll have to find someone else to thrash their arms or bounce up and down after a momentum-swinging kill.\n"She's an offensive weapon," Weismiller said. "She doesn't have many matches left, but we'll make the most of her career. We're going to miss Amanda"