North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Experience Makes a Difference
9/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 22, 2005
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH -- If there's one thing that Melissa Rabe believes is the reason that the NC State volleyball team is off to such a good start, it is experience.
Rabe, a junior setter in her first year as a full-time starter, is surrounded by five senior starters, which has made her transition into the regular lineup quite smooth.
"I am a junior now, so I feel like every year I have added to knowing what to do with our offense," Rabe said. "We have a lot more experience throughout our lineup. And that sort of made us go into this season playing for each other more. There is nothing we have to lose."
The native of Greensboro has been an outstanding performer all season long for the Wolfpack (6-2), particularly on the service line. She is ranked 20th in the nation and second in the ACC with 17 aces.
So heading into this weekend's first two ACC matches of the season, Rabe believes the Wolfpack has plenty of opportunity to notch its first conference victory in three years.
"The ACC has gotten a lot tougher, as far as volleyball goes, and I think NC State is just catching up to that," Rabe said. "It becomes more of a mental thing, a block. We are trying to get past that every year. I definitely think there is a good opportunity for that this year.
"Our first ACC weekend here is against Virginia and Virginia Tech, those are some middle-of-the-road ACC teams. We can win."
The 3-1 weekend at the Ole Miss Magnolia Invitational at Oxford, Miss., which included a 3-0 victory over the host team, did a lot to bolster the Wolfpack's confidence.
"I think we are still coming off some momentum from that last tournament," Byrne said. "This team definitely has a lot to prove in the conference season. So they have been looking forward to their first conference match, probably even in the preseason.
"The attitude is real strong right now."
Rabe is one of the reasons that confidence is so high. She worked hard over the summer to improve her strength and her setting skills, Byrne said.
"We are just really pleased with how she has grown and developed," Byrne said. "We continued to work on her strength. She is jump-setting a lot more, which helps our attack and makes her a much more deceptive setter."
Rabe, who is studying biochemistry, is one of the top student-athletes on campus. She had a perfect grade point average in high school and in her first four semesters at State. She was listed as a Top 10 Student Athlete as a freshman. Despite the difficulty of her degree, she said she has had no trouble balancing her life as an athlete and as a student.
"You obviously have to manage your time and know what your priorities are, a lot of it for me is balancing school and volleyball," Rabe said. "But it can be done. It is not impossible. There are a lot of people who come in and don't get majors that are particularly tough. But half of our team are majors like biology or chemistry or double majoring. You can get a good education and be a good athlete. "I haven't had a big problem with it."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
