The University of Akron Athletics
Zips Volleyball Profile: Kara Smith
September 13 | Women's Volleyball
The team is off to a tremendous start – already surpassing last year's win total – and you've earned consecutive all-tournament honors these past two weeks. Evaluate your play so far this year.
"It's been a lot different from last year. I feel like I have a
lot better control of the team and I think that I've become a lot
better of a leader on the court. My sets are becoming more
consistent and a lot of that's because of the work we put in during
the spring."
When you say you feel like you have more control of the
team. What do you mean?
"I feel like I can get them to do what I need them to do. As the
setter, I have to know everything that's going on on the court. I'm
like the quarterback or the pitcher because I touch the ball every
single play. I call the play before every serve and then feed the
ball to everyone."
You were one of five freshmen thrown into the fire last
year with all of you getting significant playing time. Talk about
that experience.
"Last year was pretty rough. I wasn't really ready for the speed of
the game when I came in but I started to pick it up as the season
when along. And as a freshman, it's kind of hard to be leading a
team that had a lot of upperclassmen. I really just had to step up
my play and I think I did in the spring."
Nobody likes to lose, but was there anything that you
learned – having gone through a rebuilding year – a
season ago that has helped you this year?
"I learned a lot from last year, struggling through the losses. It
really helped with my mental game – getting prepared mentally
for this season. It also helped me physically because I got so many
touches on the ball. I was the starting setter and had to be on the
court the whole time. Overall, I got a lot of experience from the
get-go."
Not only are you racking up career highs in assists on a
seemingly week-by-week basis, but now you're showing up prominently
in the box score in areas you weren't known all that much for last
season. We're just 10 matches into the season and you've already
hit personal highs for kills (7), digs (16, three times) and
service aces (5). Talk about becoming a more complete
player.
"This past spring, we started to work on my offensive and defensive
needs. My defense wasn't very strong when I first came in. It's
started to pick up so far and I feel a lot more confident out there
because of the progress we made during spring season. I've also
really been working hard on my serve, trying to get that more
consistent, and pulling everything together."
What's been the biggest difference you've noticed between
this year's team compared to last year's?
"The attitude on the team is completely different. Every practice
and every game and in the locker room, everyone just has a real
positive energy. We're really a tight-knit group."
Last season, you always seemed to have something wrapped up
or some kind of injury you were fighting through. Can you comment
on that?
"Me and my brothers (Corey, Daren and Jesse), our bodies just fall
apart (laughs). I don't think my body was built for college
athletics. I've been through a lot just this season already too,
having to tape my second ankle and now my back's bothering me. But
those things just happen and I'm going to have to play through it
every year I think."
Who's the funniest player on the team?
"Brittany Fox – for sure. She's always got
something new to say. There's always a new saying coming out of her
mouth and it's just funny."
I hear Brittany's a big Harry Potter fan.
"Oh yeah. They had a Harry Potter thing set up today on campus and
we took pictures of her with Professor Snape and the Sorting Hat.
We had a lot of fun with that."
Who's your favorite musical artist or group?
"I like everyone. But The Rocket Summer is my favorite.
It's a one-man band. It was underground but it's starting to come
out now. I started liking them my junior year (of high school).
It's like punk, piano rock."
What's the one TV show you can't miss?
"I always miss my TV shows (laughs). But I like Top Model
on MTV."
Who inspired you while you were growing up?
"My parents; definitely. They were at every sporting event and are
still at every single game. I have three older brothers who were in
sports too and they never missed a game so they juggled a lot. They
helped me get here."
Tell me something about Secor, Ill.
"It's really small. I had a graduating class of pushing like 110
maybe. We consolidated two years where people from other towns came
to our high school. There's not much to do there. It's a small
gossip town."
What's your favorite movie?
"Old School."
You were involved in show choir in high school. What was
that like?
"Show choir was just fun. It was fun to compete. I like singing and
I like dancing and I did it all through junior high and high
school. I loved it."
Was there anything that you could take from show choir that
helped you in sports?
"Yeah. There was a leadership aspect from show choir that once you
were an upperclassman you have to get the choreography going and
make sure all the younger people got all the moves. You also had to
make sure that they were mentally prepared for competition because
that can be pretty nerve-racking."
The team is off to a really strong start and seems to be
playing really well together. What is your outlook for the rest of
the season?
"I think that we're going to do very well in MAC play. People don't
really have high expectations for us right now and I think that's a
good thing. We can come back and get respect back in the MAC this
year. I don't think anyone's going to expect what we're going to
bring to the court. Since so many freshmen got experience last
year, our sophomore class is just dominating right now. Everyone's
starting to pull together so I really think the MAC has something
coming to them."
Smith and the Zips will be in action this weekend when they
meet Pepperdine, West Virginia and Marshall at the Charleston
Invitational in Charleston W.Va. Akron will open MAC play the
following weekend at Rhodes Arena against Kent State and Ohio.
