Kelli Tikker, who played her freshman season at Gonzaga last fall, will transfer to Lewis-Clark State College and play for the Warrior volleyball team, LCSC assistant coach Burdette Greeny announced on Wednesday.
Tikker, who is the cousin of former LCSC basketball player Jared Tikker, attended Lakeside High School in Nine Mile Falls, Wash., and graduated in 2007. She attended Gonzaga last year where she played for former LCSC coach Kip Yoshimura, who resigned after the 2008 season.
Tikker is a 5-foot-9 outside hitter and played in eight games for the Bulldogs last season. Gonzaga finished the year at 10-21 overall.
In high school, Tikker was a three-sport standout in volleyball, basketball and track. In volleyball, she was named the Northeast A League MVP and a Washington Class 2A first-team all-state pick her sophomore year and a 1A first-team selection her final two seasons. She was named the co-MVP in 1A during her junior year and helped her team to a second-place finish at state her junior year and a seventh-place finish her senior season. She also started as a freshman and was earned second team all-league honors.
In track, Tikker won the state 1A high jump title after finishing sixth as a junior. During her sophomore year, she ran on the 1,600 relay team, which finished second at state, and the 800 relay team, which finished fourth. Those same relay teams finished first and third, respectively, during her freshman season and the 1,600 relay team set a meet record.In basketball, she was a second-team all-league selection her final two seasons and also helped the team place fifth at the State 2A meet.
Tikker also played on the VIP Club Team in Spokane and was teammates with incoming freshman Alyssa Wold.
"We are very excited Kelli is joining our program," Greeny said. "Before signing with Gonzaga, she was a highly accomplished three sport athlete in high school. As evidenced by her high school track career, Kelli has good spring in her legs. Her compact size can deceive you after seeing her ability to get up and put a ball away.
"In addition, Kelli is very smart offensively. She fits into our style of play of balancing aggressiveness and intelligence to put pressure on the opponent. Kelli has a wonderful knack of finding the open seams in the block and defense. This will serve her and our team well in the future."
Tikker is the daughter of Dave and Cindy Tikker and she has two sisters, Kati and Karli.
"Kelli comes from a wonderfully grounded family," Greeny said. "This piece was not lost on us and is something that is truly valued by us. We know that what we are getting is a selfless, hard working, and committed person with sound roots and a high level of integrity.
"Believe it or not, when we first took this job, Kelli was the first player Jen thought of as someone she wanted in our program. It’s funny how things turn out. We feel so fortunate and simultaneously thrilled to have the chance to interact and work with Kelli on a daily basis."
Tikker, who had a 3.925 GPA in high school, is planning to major in Education at LCSC.
