Campbell McKinnon has leveled up her volleyball game. Villanova is reaping the benefits yet again.

For the majority of Campbell McKinnon’s volleyball career, she’s known where her place is on the hardwood: the middle.

McKinnon has thrived as a middle blocker, starring as a two-time district regular- season MVP during her high school days in Collierville, Tenn., outside Memphis.

At Villanova, despite initial concerns about where she’d fit in due to her size — which, standing 5-foot-10, is considered undersized for the position — she has been one of Villanova’s brightest stars. Since her arrival on the Main Line, McKinnon earned a Big East All-Freshman selection in 2024 and was named a unanimous All-Big East selection last year.

Now a junior, McKinnon is learning to balance the leadership responsibilities that come with being an upperclassman, and a new position. She recently started flipping between middle and outside blocker.

“It’s definitely been difficult because middle is a faster position where you’re just kind of up and you just hit what you have,” McKinnon said. “But outside, there’s more time to think, there’s less to block. So there’s more time to think, which is different for me.”

The adjustment hasn’t fazed McKinnon, who’s off to an outstanding start. She leads all Villanova players in points, kills, and blocks through the team’s first 15 games.

McKinnon said the Wildcats (9-6, 2-2 Big East) are still looking for consistent cohesion as they enter the heart of Big East play. DePaul is up next on Friday (8 p.m., ESPN+).

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It’s no surprise for coach Josh Steinbach.

“She’s better at everything; she’s gotten better serving, she’s better defending, she can pass a bit now, she’s made huge jumps as a blocker,” Steinbach said. “Her attacking skills have always been good, but she’s worked on it; she’s got more ability to do more things and score in different ways. She’s just a super hard-working, super competitive kid.”

When McKinnon first committed to the Wildcats, Steinbach or his assistants could not have envisioned her remarkable career to date.

“We had some debate as to whether she was good enough, it wasn’t a slam dunk,” Steinbach said. “She was an undersized middle blocker at that time who had some bad blocking technique and [we] just didn’t know what role she was going to be able to fall into. But, day one on campus, we’re like ‘This kid’s kind of special.’”

McKinnon says she was drawn to the Main Line for its academic-athletics balance and for the Wildcats coaching staff.

“When I came on a visit, I really loved the coaching dynamics, I liked the way they ran practices,” McKinnon said. “Outside of volleyball, I feel like the school has a good sports culture in general, like everyone supports athletics and as well, the academic culture here is very driven and people do want to succeed. So, I found that this was the perfect balance of what I was looking for.”

In the summer of 2024, when McKinnon first arrived on campus and with those initial questions of her fit on this team lingering, the team embarked on a European trip to Slovenia and Italy. During those matches, the staff quickly saw McKinnon’s talents and her upside in the middle.

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“This kid has some tools that are going to be pretty special and we just got to get her to figure out what she can and can’t do,” Steinbach said, recalling that summer. “And there’s not much she can’t do.”

Those tools first seen two and a half years ago have only blossomed. As a freshman, she led the team in hitting percentage (.332) and a year later, McKinnon made history with the highest hitting percentage for a middle blocker in program history (.379), nearly identical to her mark to date this season (.378). Now, with more playing time on the outside, Steinbach aims to get the most out of her play and versatility.

“As a left side, she’s going to get more touches on the ball and more swings and we have the opportunity to let her go in the back row a little bit and do some things back there,” Steinbach said. “She’s getting better as a defender and passer and she’s one of our best servers too so it makes sense, we want to get her touching the ball as much as we can.”

In addition to her on-court prowess, McKinnon has become a team leader, passing along lessons while setting the tone both in practice and matches.

“I’m definitely a lead-by-example type player,” McKinnon said. “Every day on the court, the coaches and my teammates know I’m gonna give 100%, 110% even, and hopefully that helps my teammates’ [desire to] want to do the same.”

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Another adjustment McKinnon has strived to make this season is in her on-court demeanor, making sure she’s not unintentionally affecting her fellow teammates.

“I do have to be more mindful of how I react to things, on the volleyball court. Everyone knows I’m pretty emotional, but at times, that’s not really necessary and I have to realize my facial expressions, my actions do impact my teammates because volleyball is such a team sport,” McKinnon said. “If I see my body language is bad, that could start to impact them. So [I’ve] just kind of been being more mindful of how I react to things on the court.”

Steinbach has seen McKinnon grow into a very coachable player to the point where he hasn’t found himself focusing on her as much as others on the roster.

“It’s interesting as a coach, you know you’re worried about your least problematic children or your players, right, and she’s the one I have to worry about the least,” Steinbach said. “I have to consciously sometimes spend time with my best kids because they need as much attention as everybody else.”

Especially now, as the Wildcats haven’t been at the level where they aimed to be in the preseason, remaining confident in their play and turning frustration into progress is key for McKinnon and the Wildcats.

“We’ve got some frustration in the program right now as far as wins and losses,” Steinbach said. “I think she needs to make sure she’s staying the course and doesn’t let any of those things affect how she’s playing and keep it day to day. If she can separate those things and [stay focused] right now, doing the best you can, she’s gonna be fine.”

“We all know we’re very capable volleyball players,” McKinnon said, “but at times, things can be choppier rather than smooth playing. If we can find our glue together and start to work together a little bit better, I think we can find some success.”

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