Pass - Set - Spike

1.  Does the Athletic Director attend Volleyball matches?  This is a key question to ask and to get answered by your eyes when you are a VolleyFamily on a campus visit.  NCAA DI Volleyball is a Head Count sport, which elevates it in status, and the confirmation or denial of this status is evident in the attendance of the Athletic Director.  An AD who does not show up or only for 10 minutes every 10 matches, is not someone who is interested in the sport of Volleyball.

2.  The trend of rude, abrasive and verbally confrontational fans at College Volleyball matches is disturbing.  I can't determine when and why this has come to occur in our sport, but it is certainly disheartening.  Having idiot fans verbally abuse athletes with loud comments about their looks, their physical build and ironically last of all, their play, and then to have the referees and match administrator accept this behavior is such a negative for our sport.  With a group of ten over-sized frat boys screaming abusive remarks towards a 19 year old female in spandex a mere 10 feet away, is unsportsmanlike like behavior and must be shut down by Administrators.  Football and Basketball players are a bit more protected by distance from the fans (football) or support staff floating on the sidelines (basketball), but not Volleyball.


3.  I suggest that Penn State Volleyball has been the most important Women's Volleyball growth vehicle in the last 10 years; not the AVCA, not the NCAA and not USA Volleyball.  Penn State showed that NCAA Women's Volleyball dominance was not a west coast annual event, nor a once in a while occurrence for non west coast teams (Nebraska, Texas).  A whole generation of youth Volleyball players from the Mississippi river east got to see a program they could more easily identify with be nationally successful.