Oct. 30, 2008

By Lara Boyko
Special to NCAA.com

Five-foot-nine University of San Francisco women’s volleyball senior setter Darcy Carroll and her fellow seniors recently found out that dreams do come true.

“It means a great deal, especially as a senior,” said Carroll, on her team’s mid-season recognition as the No. 22 team in the country by the AVCA. “I wanted to leave the program knowing I had made an impact and that’s exactly what we are doing. We are breaking records and doing things we have never done before. All of us as a senior class have dreamt of this since we were freshmen. We are not stopping now as we want to get better and reach higher.”

While many teams on the west coast are regularly recognized in the AVCA Division I Top 25, for the Dons it was just the second time in the program’s history with the last time being five years ago on September 29, 2003 when the Dons came in at No. 24.

“I’m lucky to be in this situation right now,” said USF women’s volleyball coach Gilad Doron, who is in his second season with the Dons. “I’m very proud of them and I told them from day one that if they will work for me, they will benefit from it and I think they are seeing the hard work pay off not only in volleyball, but also in the classroom, community and personal life. We are seeing changes in every aspect of them as people. That was my goal – to build USF volleyball and be as competitive as we can in the nation and our conference.”

En route to earning their national recognition, the Dons have started to become one of the toughest teams in the West Coast Conference. This season the Dons – who were a pre-season pick to finish fourth in the conference -- are off to a perfect 7-0 start which includes a 10-match win streak and beating three ranked teams (then-No. 15 San Diego on October 11, then-No. 18 Santa Clara on October 18 and then-No. 15 Pepperdine on October 25).  The latest win over Pepperdine (3-1) not only got the attention of AVCA voters, but it also ended a 29-match losing streak that dates back to 1993.

“It was pretty amazing,” said Carroll. “We went into that game saying that no one was going to beat us 30 times in a row and that this was going to be a huge game for us. We went in wanting to win from the beginning. It was a huge win for us.”

“I was pretty emotional after the game as I know some of the girls on that team and know what it is like to go to five sets and lose at their house so many times,” said 6-foot-3 middle blocker Carly Babin. “Being able to beat them and having everyone on the court believing we could beat them from the first point was an awesome feeling.”

Getting to that awesome feeling after an amazing game has taken some time and adjustments for the team. The program is in just the second year under the direction of coach Doron and still in a learning process, which sometimes means learning about tough love. 

“One of the things coach tells us is that ‘it’s not fair and it’s not negotiable’,” said Babin. “It comes out in key points as you don’t argue for calls, you are not going to change what a referee thinks. Just little things like you can’t control everything that is happening, just what you are going to do.”

Now that one dream has been realized this season, the team is hoping for another dream – a return to the NCAA Tournament – to come true.

“It’s hard,” said Carroll of the disappointments the program has experienced in not playing in the NCAA Tournament since 2003. “When you train just as hard as any Division I athlete does and then in the end not be able to go where you want, it is really disappointing. This year we have trained harder than ever and our main goal at the beginning is to do exactly what we are doing. Fortunately it has been working out.”

Just as the seniors believe that their dreams can come true, coach Doron is also helping them realize that after working hard, anything is possible.

“I went to a David Copperfield show in Las Vegas once and one of the themes of the show was that you’ve got to dream and believe,” said Doron. “I want them to dream and believe. The most important thing is how we get two more points than the other team in three games every time we step on the court. If they can understand these simple things, there’s no doubt that the work these girls have been doing – physically, mentally and emotionally – is a lot harder than they have ever worked before. They are ready for it and are enjoying this process because they see the result. The most important thing is that we are playing together and are one team. We play for one reason and everyone is equally part of what we are trying to accomplish.”

Cut Shots – Trick or Treat?

Along with Pepperdine having a double-digit streak come to an end this month, other teams in the west have seen tricks and treats this month. First it was on October 3 when then-ranked No. 4 USC that lost to unranked Oregon State for the first time since 1996 which ended a 22-match losing streak between the two schools. USC continued to have a bad month in October as on the 11th, then-ranked No. 10 Washington handed then-ranked No. 11 USC their first home loss in 32 matches.

Elsewhere in the Pac-10, on October 19, then-ranked No. 5 California ended a 29-year drought as they handed then-ranked No. 4 Stanford a rare four-set loss at Stanford. This loss marked the first for the Cardinal in 12 matches.

A few days later on October 25, it was then-ranked No. 14 USC who were treated to a five-set win over No. 4 Cal to end a 13-match win streak the Golden Bears were enjoying.