Hernandez digs role
Libero emerges as leader for Nevada defense
Allison Hernandez is best when she is diving on the volleyball court and leading her fellow defenders.
“She is a fiery competitor,” Ron Grove, Hernadez’s Roseville High School coach, said. “Her success at Nevada is not surprising. She was always a fantastic player.”
Since moving from outside hitter to libero, Hernandez has established herself as a vital defensive presence. She has led Nevada in digs 23 of the Pack’s 24 games this season. Her 4.87 digs per game is third best in the Western Athletic Conference.
“She has been such a steady player,” coach Devin Scruggs said. “We’re very pleased with her play. She is turning into a main constant on defense.”
Liberos are the players on the court wearing different colored uniforms. They focus on returning serves and playing defense. Libero players have more independence because they aren’t concerned with assigned stations.
“I tell people where to go on defense,” Hernandez said. “I control the defense kind of like the setter controls the offense.”
Hernandez played front-row most of her high school career. In high school she lettered all four years in volleyball. She also lettered in Track and Field.
“High school was a blur,” she said. “I wasn’t good (at volleyball) in the beginning. I got better with competition in club sport.”
She played three years for the Gold Cal Juniors Volleyball club. In 2003 the team placed 18th at the Junior Olympics in Houston and 26th in 2002 at Atlanta.
Hernandez was co-MVP on the Sierra Foothill League team in her junior and senior years of high school. The team won the Sierra Foothill League Championship her senior year.
“The tournament had all the best players in the area,” Grove said. “She was the turning point in the tournament. We were down and she dove on a tremendous hit by the other team. That was the turning point of the whole tournament. That’s what propelled us to victory.”
Hernandez’s tenacious play and athletic ability has placed her in esteemed company.
She had a string of reaching double digits in digs 16 of 17 games. The one game she didn’t reach double digits in that span was at No. 13 New Mexico State.
“That was the most disappointing match of the season,” Hernandez said. “We should have beaten them. It’s really frustrating because we seem to always do well up to a certain point. We had a tough time finishing.”
After falling 2-0 Nevada won the next two sets at NMSU. The Pack lost the fifth set 17-15.
Hernandez’s hot play has correlated to wins for the Pack. Nevada finished the regular season by winning 11 of 15. The Pack was 14-10 overall, 10-6 in conference.
The WAC tournament will begin Saturday in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Nevada is a four seed behind Hawaii, NMSU and Utah State. Hernandez knows that if Nevada is going to make the NCAA’s the Pack must do damage in its conference tournament.
“We have to win games against those teams,” she said. “It’s plain and simple.”
The Pack might need a little bit of luck when it enters the tournament. Hernandez has always been superstitious as a player. Every game she makes sure to put all her left-legged equipment on before she moves to her right leg. Shoes, socks and shin pads all must wait there turn on the right foot.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 2:08 am and is filed under Sports, Volleyball.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Print this post
Email this post© 2008 The Nevada Sagebrush
