Putnam County Record

Bernardoni signs with IVCC

GRANVILLE — Kayte Bernardoni will be honing her already considerable volleyball skills locally. The Putnam County senior signed her letter of intent on Thursday, April 30, to attend Illinois Valley Community College in Oglesby. The Lostant native said this was not a hard choice.

“I wanted to play volleyball and three of my cousins went there,” Bernardoni said. “I really didn’t want to go away from home the first year.”

“I heavily recruited Kayte,” IVCC volleyball coach Erin Polte said. “(PC volleyball coach) Amy (Kreiser) and I have been friends for quite a while because we work together in camps and coach traveling volleyball teams together. I started watching her and I thought, ‘Wow, she’s really athletic.’ She’s tall, she can play all the way around, she has a great block and a great swing.

“At one point, Kayte was kind of on the fence because she didn’t know if she just wanted to go to school or add volleyball to that schedule,” Polte said. “I said, ‘No, if you’re coming to IV, I need you. I can’t see you walking around.’ My team is very excited to have her, she adds a little more height to the team and she’s really athletic. Not to mention she’s a wonderful student, so that’s going to be a great addition to the volleyball team and the college as a whole.”

When she’s not on the court, Bernardoni intends to study pre-law and major in English.