The 2024-25 Rams Reflect is the 10th in a series of annual collections. Senior captains and representatives of Suffolk teams have been invited to contribute viewpoints based on personal experience from both their senior seasons and full varsity careers at Suffolk University.
For a complete listing of past and present Rams’ Reflections, click here.
McKenna Keowen, Women's Volleyball | Hometown: San Ramon, Calif. | Major: Law and Public Policy
The first time I visited Suffolk, or Boston for that matter, I wasn’t permitted to enter any campus buildings. Peak COVID restrictions, I had flown across the country with the hope of simply getting a feel for the city. I stood outside of Ridgeway with my mom and waited for Coach to arrive. I remember him saying, as we stood in the cold on the bricks of Cambridge Street, “Right below your feet is our court, isn’t that funny? Sorry you won’t be able to see it.” I remember thinking it wasn’t funny. What an odd set up. A gym in the basement, below one of Boston’s busiest streets? Little did I know that that court and that building would be the site of some of my greatest memories over the next four years.
I feel so grateful for the hundreds of hours spent at Ridgeway. From team dinners to 7 a.m. practices to long sessions in the athletic training room, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. The Ridgeway Building has brought me the best friends and teammates I have ever had. It really is a special place, however strange the set up. A place where every athlete from every sport can come and commune. There were years where the weather was so bad in the winter that multiple teams, indoor and outdoor sports, would compete head-to-head for time on that strange little basement court. While in the moment it was frustrating to have to share what us volleyball girls deemed to be our court, I look back now and recognize how special it is to be surrounded by players who are just as passionate about their sport as you are.
If there was one thing that was consistent during my time as a Ram, it was volleyball and the girls I was lucky enough to play with. I met my best friends and girls I always knew I could count on. The girls that graduated before me, the girls that will graduate after me, and the girls I walked across the stage with in May, have all played much bigger roles in my life than they likely recognize.
As a freshman, I was welcomed into the home of our captains. Both of them had come from far out of state as well and understood what it was like to be far from home. The two of them took us under their wings, cooking dinners for us and treating us as family. The kindness they showed me was of the utmost importance to me in my first years as a Ram.
It’s funny to look back on my first years and see how far this team has come. From 2021, with a losing record of 11-17, to 2024 where we finished with the best record in program history at 23-7. The program has grown so much in four years. We have brought in pivotal additions from not only all over the country, but all over the world. My class alone represents six different states, none of them being Massachusetts. In a school dominated by New Englanders, that has always felt very special.
I feel beyond fortunate to have been given the responsibility of captaining this team for two years and I feel confident in the girls who will fill that role after me.
The four years of college can be crazy and overwhelming, but I always knew I’d have my girls to lean on at the end of the day.