Tenisha Matlock has become a jack-of-all-trades of sorts for the ISU volleyball team.

This may come as no surprise for volleyball fans who know it isn’t uncommon to play all around the rotation, but Matlock’s situation is a bit different than that.

“She can do a lot of things very well,” said coach Christy Johnson-Lynch earlier in the season. “She can actually play really good defense, she’s a good passer, maybe attack out of the back row, just trying to be a little bit creative with her and see what we can do with her.”

After completely moving into the middle blocker role with some occasional hitting last August, Matlock has started to move around again this spring.

At 6 feet 2 inches, Matlock’s distinct physical play is different, allowing Johnson-Lynch to put her in a variety of different roles.

“She’s just very agile for her size,” Johnson-Lynch said. “That allows her to play defense, it allows her to be a good passer [and] hit out of the back row, so she’s just a gifted athlete.”

Often, athletes complain about switching roles or positions and aren’t open to the change in scenery. Matlock, on the other hand, has been open from day one and said her perfectionist attitude gets in the way sometimes.

“I think it’s just more frustrating than anything just because I’m the type of person who wants to get it right, so if it’s not right, I’ll just stay there until I get it right, so it just takes a while,” Matlock said.

With the spring season comes all sorts of adjustments because it gives the coaching staff a chance to move players around without having to worry about the outcome of the matches.

While Matlock hasn’t been the only one moving around, her positive attitude toward whatever is thrown at her hasn’t gone unnoticed by her teammates either.

“Keeping a positive attitude,”  said senior and blocking counterpart Jamie Straube. “Everyone around her has been helping her out and all the players have been giving her feedback and little tips and tricks here and there, so she’s taking it all in and working really hard at it.”

Last season was Matlock’s first as a primary middle blocker. After the offseason, she said starting back up at the still relatively new position was a little rusty, but the constant changes haven’t made getting back going so tough.

“Just because they keep moving me around still, so I’m not really ‘middle’ per se but more majority middle, but I still want to play right and left side so that and getting used to passing, so I’m still adjusting,” she said.

Even with all the moving around, Matlock was quick to note what she enjoys about the frequent changes. In volleyball, teams play in a rotation, so for the majority of the team, they don’t play all the way around.

This means some players only serve and play in the back whereas others only play up front and block or hit. The versatility of being able to play all over the court allows Matlock to play for more points, and she says she’s all for it.

“I can be on the court and get everybody else going instead of coming in for my three rotations, get everybody else going, coming back out and then trying to start all over again,” Matlock said.

As for this spring, all the changes seem to be working out well for Matlock and the Cyclones. After never serving in a regular-season game in either of her first two years with the team, Matlock served up a pair of aces against Creighton last weekend.

Johnson-Lynch said she plans to keep putting Matlock in different spots this spring to see how she fits, and her next chance to do so will be this Saturday against Illinois.

First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Bettendorf High School in Bettendorf, Iowa.