Driving down Minnesota Highway 68 about 15 miles west of Marshall, you get to the outskirts of a small town. The sign alongside the road reads:

Taunton

Pop. 139

I made the trek between Canby and Marshall numerous times as a kid. I’ll be honest, I probably thought nothing much had or would come out of a town as small as Taunton.

I would’ve been wrong!

The accomplishments that Taunton native and Minneota High School graduate Taylor Reiss has achieved in her career at Southwest Minnesota State University are nothing short of incredible. These aren’t just impressive feats for a small-town kid, but impressive feats for anyone.

She’s not only putting her mark on the record books at SMSU, but also in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and nationally.

On Thursday, Reiss was awarded the NSIC Player of the Year award for the 2018 season. It is her third time winning the award, something no other volleyball player in NSIC history has been able to say before Reiss came along.

She has been named to the all-NSIC first team in all four years of her career. Abbey Thissen (2012-15) was the last SMSU volleyball player to accomplish that feat.

Earlier this season, the reigning American Volleyball Coaches Association Division II Player of the Year became the first five-time AVCA National Player of the Week winner in either Division I or Division II. She enters the last weekend of the regular season as the national leader in kills per set (5.93), points per pet (6.64) and total kills (557) for the 2018 season.

Recently, Reiss became just the second player in SMSU volleyball history to record 2,000 career kills. She is also second in kills per set (4.95), points (2,311.5), third in attack attempts (4,954), third in points per set (5.61), sixth in attack percentage (.315), and seventh in service attempts (1,527).

I wonder where those numbers would be had her career started a little differently.

If you’ll recall, Reiss was originally slated to play volleyball at Division I South Dakota State University. She made it to the Brookings (S.D.) campus, but decided to transfer in August before her freshman year because it as “not the right fit for her.”

However, Reiss didn’t get on the court right away for the Mustangs due to some issues with her eligibility status that needed to be worked out. She missed the entire nonconference portion of the 2015 season as well as the first two matches of NSIC play, 10 matches in total.

From her first set on the court with the Mustangs, it was obvious Reiss would be special. Even with the late start, Reiss still recorded 300 kills and a team-high 3.66 kills per set as a freshman. She has recorded over 500 kills in each of the past three seasons.

Reiss should be an inspiration for all of the young kids in the area who may think they can’t achieve success because of where they grew up. The opportunities are still there, even if you have to fight harder to get there.