IRVINE, Calif. --- The women's volleyball program lost one of its most prolific blockers and the "heart and soul" of the 1988 team last week when Kris Burke lost her 12-year fight with breast cancer on June 18, 2013.
Described fondly by former Anteater head coach Mike Puritz as "having a smile all the time" and "a goofy kid," Burke, née Roberts, played with the Anteaters from 1985-88 and was a local product out of Irvine High School. Not heavily recruited, Puritz took a chance on the 6-4 middle blocker and watched her develop from someone who initially was "unable to run a timed mile" to earning honorable mention All-America honors her senior year.
"I went out to watch her play [at Irvine High] and she really wasn't a good volleyball player," said Puritz, who helmed the women's program from 1980-95. "But the thing I noticed was that, it wasn't that she was lacking skill, she was lacking confidence. I went out to watch her again her senior year and she had improved."
Puritz decided to offer Burke a scholarship and after the she failed to finish the mile, yelled at the freshman, one of the few times he recalls scolding a player in his tenure. That would be a turning point for Burke, who was quoted in a 1987 Los Angeles Times article written by John Weyler, "I really hit the weight room. I pushed myself and pushed myself. I wanted to be the starting middle blocker as a sophomore and I earned it."
The work ethic paid off for Burke. She led UCI in kills and blocks as a sophomore and a junior and topped the Big West in blocking average in 1986 (2.08), 1987 (1.82) and 1988 (1.81) to log the top three marks in the conference's single-season records. She led the Anteaters to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history in 1988. UCI faced Long Beach State in a five-set thriller in which Burke set a school record with 12 solo blocks.
"I had coaches tell me that they would run their offenses away from Kris," said Puritz. "San Diego State coach Rudy Sawara told me that, Kathy Gregory (UC Santa Barbara) told me that, Dave Shoji (Hawai'i) told me that. Different coaches who were the top coaches in the country at the time knew she was a force at the net."
In four years with the Anteaters, Burke averaged 1.80 blocks per set and recorded 293 career solo blocks, two Big West records that still stand today. She amassed 670 total blocks, second in the conference and is one of only two players in Big West history to reach 90 solo blocks in a single season. A two-time Big West Player of the Week, she ranked in the Big West's top 10 all four years in single-season solo blocks.
"On that [1988] team, we had Ali Wood, Kim Collins, Carrie Janisch, Ann Warmus, but Kris was really the heart and soul of the team," said Puritz. "If we didn't have Kris Roberts, we wouldn't have been able to accomplish what we accomplished.
"She had good technique and she had an innate ability to know where to go. She wasn't the swiftest of foot but she didn't give up and would close the holes in the block. She just had that ability and the desire to be good."
Following her collegiate career, Burke was drafted and played professionally with the Los Angeles Starlites. She went on to become an elementary school teacher and is survived by her husband, Ben, and their daughter, Skyler.
