JEFFERSON TWP — Mykenzie Werner has heard it all before.

She's too short to play at the net.

She should be playing in the back row.

How can she be an effective hitter at just 5-foot-3?

Werner, a senior outside hitter for the Knoch volleyball team, just shrugs it off.

“I don't really let it phase me — I know I'm short,” Werner said, smiling through her mask. “I just do my best. I just try to work around my obstacles.”

Werner has matured into a consistent net presence for the Knights this season, piling up 14 kills in a win against Burrell earlier this season.

She's averaging 7.5 kills per match for Knoch.

“We went from a 6-1 outside hitter to a 5-3,” said Knoch volleyball coach Diane Geist. “She puts it all out there. By the end of the match, she's exhausted. I have a lot of confidence in her and she plays smart volleyball, too. She has a lot of spirit and spunk.”

Her father calls her “Muggs,” an allusion to 5-3 former NBA point guard Muggsy Bogues.

Like Bogues, Werner has exceptional leaping ability.

That makes up for her diminutive size.

“I have a really good vertical, so I use that,” Werner said. “I take smarter shots, not just try to slam the ball down to the floor. I pick my spots.”

It's that kind of cerebral approach that Werner has had to develop over the years.

She began playing in the seventh grade and became a hitter almost immediately.

Werner stayed at that position throughout school volleyball as well as club volleyball.

“I've always been a hitter,” she said. “Except for last year when I played in the back row.”

Werner was thrust into the lineup during Knoch's run to a third consecutive WPIAL 3A championship in 2019 because of injuries to Hannah Rowe and Kennedy Christy.

She acquitted herself well.

Werner said she enjoyed playing behind stars like Rowe and Christy.

“They did teach me a lot,” Werner said. “They were really good players and they helped me when they could. They were always there to support us. When I did get to play, they were both cheering me on.”

This year, it's been her turn to make an impact for the Knights.

After a slow start, Knoch has been playing better of late.

The Knights won 3-0 against Deer Lakes Monday and last week had a chance to go up 2-0 on a talented Mars team, but let the second set slip away and fell 3-1.

“Last week's game at Mars, even though we lost, we played really well,” Werner said. “We have been progressing. We are becoming a better team day by day.”

Werner is trying to savor ever match during a shortened season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her club campaign this summer with Pitt United was also cut short and she feared she wouldn't even have a senior season to play this fall.

“It's so nice to be here and be playing the sport I love with my friends,” Werner said.

Werner tried softball and basketball when she was younger, but those sports didn't do much to excite her.

Volleyball, did, however.

“I think it's the adrenaline rush,” Werner said. “When I started playing volleyball I was like, 'Yeah, this is my sport. This what I want to play. This is what I want to do.'”

Werner also likes nothing more than to show those who doubt her because of her size that she can get kills with the best of them.

She's also seen the looks.

What's this 5-3 girl going to do against us at the net?

“It is motivation,” Werner said, crinkling her mask again with a grin. “It makes me want to show them and do well.”