Five months ago, senior middle blocker Taylor Masterson dislocated her knee before the start of her final season on the Southeast Missouri State volleyball team.

This injury is something Masterson has been dealing with since she first suffered it during her junior year of volleyball in high school at St. Joseph's Academy in Chesterfield, Missouri.

After dislocating her knee, doctors had to perform a surgical procedure called lateral release where the kneecap is realigned and reattached to good cartilage.

Masterson said that the injury keeps reoccurring simply because she keeps landing on fellow players the wrong way.

Masterson opted to get the surgery again this time around and coach Julie Yankus was glad she did because she could see Masterson was in a lot of pain.

"So whatever we could do to optimize her as a healthy player, we want to do," Yankus said. "Of course you get a little worried about going into surgery and having anything like that, but of course I want her to feel good and be able to move on the court well and just be healthy."

Yankus went on to say that Masterson is strong both mentally and physically and Masterson was able to comeback from this so that she will be able to make an impact for her final year at Southeast.

Masterson worked with the team's athletic trainer Taylor Brace through her rehab and also continues to do rehab at home two to three times a week.

"It's a long process," Masterson said. "There's different levels and it starts from the basic stuff of just stretching and trying to lift my leg up to actually doing my box jumps and stuff like that. So there's a lot in between and it takes a while to get through that."

Masterson is now in the final stages of her rehab and returned to practice on Sept. 16 and said she felt some discomfort but was happily surprised with how well it went.

The only limitations that Masterson has right now are the ones that she sets for herself.

"The limitations are when I start to hurt -- we stop," Masterson said. "I'm still not as fast as everybody else, I can't jump as high as everybody else, but basically I'm doing everything until I'm in too much pain to not do it."

Yankus said that Masterson's presence has definitely been missed by the team this season.

Southeast is currently 4-9 and has not gained a victory at home and will be starting Ohio Valley Conference play this Friday against Murray State.

Yankus plans for Masterson to make her return this weekend.

"Of course if she's not ready, she's not ready," Yankus said. "And if it doesn't work out we want her to be able to come back when she's at a good enough strength that she's obviously helping the team, but also helping herself and not putting herself in danger."

Masterson was a first team All-OVC selection last year in a season where she lead the team in points with 368, was second on the team in kills with 285 and led the OVC in kill percentage [.351].

While only being able to sit on the sidelines this season, it has given Masterson the chance to see the game from a different perspective.

"Well even though I can't be out there I could see different angles and different shots that my teammates have while they're on the court," Masterson said. "So whenever they leave the court I can help them, I can put them in the best possible position for them to score even though I'm not out there."

Masterson said it was still disappointing to not be on the court with her teammates but that she didn't let that get to her and was able to learn more about the game with her time off.

Masterson is the first player that Yankus ever recruited while she was the recruiting coordinator at SIU Carbondale.

She failed to sign Masterson when she was coming out of high school because she decided to play volleyball at the University of Alabama instead.

"I actually recruited her in high school, she didn't give me the time of day though because she went to the University of Alabama," Yankus said with a laugh. "... She had committed early to Alabama, and when she was transferring from there, she reached out to me and I was like, 'Yes! She wants to transfer? This is awesome.'"

When Yankus found out that Masterson was hoping to transfer after a redshirt year at Alabama, there was nothing that was going to stop Yankus from finally signing her first recruit.

"I came back early from my Christmas break because she was wanting to visit campus, she had one day and I was like, 'I will get there,'" Yankus said. "So I came all the way back from Christmas break to show her and her parents around, and I instantly knew that it was going to be a great fit."

Masterson and Yankus have a strong relationship and Yankus said that the two actually have very similar personalities in that they both love to laugh and they both love to win.

"She's definitely the player that -- some of the players might not want to tell me the honest truth, Taylor tells the truth," Yankus said. "She tells me the truth, probably tells me too much, but she does that because she's comfortable and open and we have a good relationship, but she also wants what's best for the team."

Yankus said that Masterson has a high volleyball IQ and that she's a huge impact player and not only because of her blocking or scoring skills, but from a leadership standpoint and a lot of the younger players look up to her as a role model.

Masterson said she will probably be nervous when she gets back on the court for the first time in a match for Southeast since Nov. 11, but she said she will also be extremely excited to see what she can do in her final year.

"Her presence on the court is very infectious," Yankus said. "So when she's back, I know the rest of the team will be very fired up and we'll have a great cohesive unit out there."