Thursday, November 5, 1998
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Jessica Sudduth, back, slaps the ball
past a Bradley player in a match earlier this season.
The left-side hitter for the Wahine
By Cindy Luis
volleyball team is playing with much
more confidence than she did
a year ago -- and it shows
Star-BulletinJESSICA Sudduth hasn't decided on a major, but she is already working on a master's degree in chemistry.
Three semesters into college and she has discovered that some combinations have positive reactions and others are negative.
Her laboratory has been the volleyball court. The ongoing experiment has produced a 19-2 record and a No. 9 ranking for the Hawaii women's volleyball team.
The results have been good, but not perfect. And for Sudduth, the Wahine's sophomore left-side hitter, perfection is always a goal.
"I never knew the meaning of chemistry, but last season something was missing," Sudduth said. "Even when I was going through it, I couldn't figure it out. I just know that the feeling this season is totally different.
"People left. We added some new people. Now it's working. You can see it on the court. We enjoy playing with each other.
"When everything's going well, I try not to analyze it too much."
Things have gone very well for Hawaii this season -- unexpectedly well. With the departure of two all-conference seniors and five others for various reasons, the Wahine were thought by most to be in a rebuilding mode.
Enter junior transfer Heather Bown and Brazilian freshman Veronica Lima, two impact middle blockers. And re-enter Sudduth, who spent half the summer training with the U.S. national A2 team.
That combination has Hawaii in the Top 10 and poised for a major move should the Wahine upend their Western Athletic Conference nemesis tonight -- No. 4 Brigham Young.
"We're still trying to prove those polls wrong," Sudduth said. "Rankings are just rankings. That's the beautiful thing about competition. You never know until you play what the outcome will be.
"We know we pretty much beat ourselves the last time we played them. But they're a good team and they have a lot of confidence."
Confidence is the major difference in Sudduth the freshman and Sudduth the sophomore. She had a career-high 18 kills in the 13-15, 15-4, 15-2, 15-8 loss to the Cougars in Provo last month and has steadily improved since then.
Sudduth was named the WAC Pacific Division Player of the Week on Monday after helping the Wahine to three road victories last week. She combined for 36 kills, 26 digs, six aces and hit .337. She has already surpassed her ace total of last season and is two kills shy of her 1997 total.
"Her hitting percentage has gone up steadily for the past month," assistant coach Charlie Wade said. "She's hit over .300 every night out for the past few weeks and, for an outside hitter, that's very good. That's All-American type showings.
"If she can continue to do that, she will establish herself as one of the premiere left-side hitters in the country. She's not a legitimate All-American candidate right now, but she will be. I thought that almost from the first time I saw her play."
Wade saw the passion Sudduth had for the sport when he began coaching the 15-year-old at Magnum Volleyball Club in Southern California. It was a 90-minute freeway drive for her parents, a commitment that resulted in the Sudduth family eventually moving from Hesperia to Yorba Linda to be closer to the club's training site.
"I felt literally from the first time I saw her play that she had national team potential," Wade said. "She approaches it differently than most people. She is really into it, enjoys playing and competing. She has a real desire to be as perfect as possible.
"She's gifted physically plus she wants to be really good. We had some really good players come through our (Magnum) program -- Kee Williams, Sarah Chase (both former Wahine). Early on, I could tell she was going to be just as good, if not better, than all of them."
Sudduth grew up wanting to play for UCLA. She took official recruiting visits to UCLA, Southern Cal and Ohio State, and unofficially to Long Beach State.
She came out to watch the Wahine blast Sacramento State during the 1996 final four campaign and fell in love.
"Charlie had told my dad about the crowds, but when you get here, it's 'Oh my gosh, you've got to be kidding,'" Sudduth said. "I knew I'd never be playing in front of that many people if I went anywhere else. It's not that I play for that, but it was definitely something to add to the 'pros' list.
"The coaching staff and the players had a huge part in my decision. I love playing here. It's such a positive atmosphere. My confidence has gone up. I've found my comfort zone."
Sudduth is playing with a broken thumb and stretched tendons that will require postseason surgery. She said playing with pain is part of the game.
"It hurts, but I try not to think about it," she said. "What I'm thinking about is working on my passing and getting better however I can. I'd like to be more of a threat offensively. We're winning and that's what matters."
1998 UH Wahine Volleyball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
