Winning Pacific-10 Conference games isn’t an experience the women’s volleyball team is accustomed to – at least not its senior members.
Though with a newfound sense of confidence under the guidance of second-year coach Jim Moore, the three seniors Kristen Bitter, Heather Madison and Erin Little have been mostly responsible for the team’s heightened sense of expectations.
“The reason we are where we are is because of the seniors,” Moore said. “And that’s a fact.”
Bitter, a middle blocker, has had to adjust to a new role that’s not suited to her personality.
“Kristen’s taken on the responsibility of a verbal leader, which is not in her comfort zone, and she’s done great in those kinds of things,” Moore said. “That’s not her normal personality. She’s not the person who’s going to go down into the locker room between games two and three and jump all over everybody, but she’s been the one doing that.
“Her personality is to make everybody feel better, be nice and she’s a wonderful, sweet human being. If my children grow up to be half what she is, I’m going to be thrilled to death.”
Conversely, Little, an outside hitter, hasn’t had to go outside her comfort zone much because of Bitter’s leadership. Little is only responsible for focusing on her development as a player.
“Erin only has to worry about Erin,” Moore said. “Erin just has to work on being a good volleyball player and she’s been doing great. Erin’s the senior that’s been leading us through a lot of big matches.”
Little and Madison are grateful for Bitter taking on the leadership role because they know it’s a difficult thing to do.
“She’s definitely out of her comfort zone,” Madison said. “She doesn’t necessarily like yelling at people or just raising her voice. She’s done a really good job of that by saying things when they need to be said.”
Little said that Madison hasn’t had to develop her role much because she’s always been one of the team leaders.
“Maddie’s always been vocal,” Little said. “She’s always been the one to have high expectations.”
With the newfound sense of leadership, confidence and talented newcomers, the seniors have more reason to be believe they’re at least capable of being competitive in everyone one of their matches.
“It’s kind of surreal,” Madison said. “It reminds me back in high school when you do have expectations of winning games. It puts more pressure on, but that’s why we play. It’s a better feeling after losing for so many years, you appreciate winning so much more.”
With Oregon expecting to win, the seniors have felt that they’ve finally accomplished something during their tenure.
“We’ve worked hard to put ourselves in the opportunity of having something to lose,” Little said. “That’s the most special thing – we have something to lose because before we never did.”
This week the Ducks (12-3 overall, 2-3 Pac-10) will look to have a firmer foothold in the conference standings this week against Arizona State (9-7, 1-4) and Arizona (9-8, 0-5).
Historically, Arizona has beaten the Ducks without much trouble. The Wildcats have won the past 15 matches.
“They’ve always been able to come up here and get their two wins (against the Oregon schools),” Little said.
But this year the Wildcats have started Pac-10 play on a five-game losing streak and will look to get their first conference win this weekend.
“Their backs are against the wall,” Moore said. “Caged animals aren’t necessarily much fun. They know they need to win their games this week or they’re probably out of the NCAA tournament.”
The Ducks and Sun Devils play tonight at 7 p.m. at Mac Court, and Oregon hosts Arizona Friday at 7 p.m.
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