Being a freshman at any university can be tough.
It can be tougher if home is at least two states away, you’re playing college volleyball for a team that won three games last season and you’re in the SEC where the talent level of the competition is among the toughest in the nation.
These circumstances could send anyone back home in a hurry. However, adding five other nationally ranked recruits, a new coach who’s just as hungry to learn as you are and a great group of older teammates eases the transition.
This is the situation for a young group of freshman looking to right the ship of MSU volleyball. The recruiting class, ranked in the 20 “Best of the Rest” category of PrepVolleyball.com’s top 50 recruit classes of 2004, is only MSU’s second six-player class in school history. The six signees who span five states will become the nucleus for first year head coach Tina Seals’ new-look Bulldog program.
The six young women–Christa Fulenwider, Madison Hill, Taylor Noland, Jamie Joyner, Megan Lukasek and Erin Seago were all early signees, and have known their collegiate destination for almost a year. This has given all six ample time to form a unique bond before ever attending a practice.
“This class is extremely close,” says Coach Seals. “They’ve played club ball with and against each other. They’ve developed phone relationships; their parents even call each other. They’re just really close.”
Noland, an outside hitter from the Atlanta suburb of Duluth says the large class size was one reason she wanted to come to MSU.
“With five other girls signing with you, the decision was easy. (With six of us,) there’s always someone to go work out with, go to class with, etc. We’ll be spending the next four years together, so it’s like having five new sisters.”
Moving away from home for the first time is never as easy as it seems, though. Most of the girls are at least a seven-hour drive from home, and that can cause even the most independent teenagers to feel a chill of homesickness once in a while. Seago, a middle blocker from Rockford, Ill., said homesickness is definitely an issue, but a manageable one.
“We definitely miss our families. But they will be at some of the tournaments and (with all the time that goes into playing volleyball) this team becomes like your second family.
Homesickness aside, there are other adjustments.
“It’s definitely a culture shock,” says Noland of the small town atmosphere that Starkville exudes. “Also the volleyball is much more demanding, but in a good way. It’s more physical, and faster.”
The six players returning from last year’s squad have eased some of these transitions well.
“They’ve all showed us the ropes,” Noland says of her elder teammates. “They showed us where our classes were (Wednesday). We’ve really started bonding as a team. It’s really just as difficult for them losing half the team (from last year) as it is for us coming in.”
Seals said she has been pleased with the guidance and leadership they have displayed for the newcomers, all in their different ways.
“We’ve got some really good leaders of this team. Rachel (Cooper) leads by her example on and off the court, Andrea (Mead) is more of our vocal leader, and Ashley (Sledge) is like our mother on the court during drills and practice.”