Hustle beats height at Rock Bridge

At first glance, it looks like a typo on the Rock Bridge volleyball team roster.

No. 11, Nikki Matheny, junior, middle blocker, 5-foot-9.

It seems unlikely considering the Bruins’ other middle blockers are much taller. Rachel Donnell is 6-foot-1, and Kristin Lange is6-foot-2.

It is no mistake, though. Matheny is indeed four inches shorter than any of her teammates at her position, a spot usually reserved for the tallest players.

But she doesn’t let her height slow her down.

“She’s the Energizer bunny,” assistant coach Scott Shelley said. “When she’s on the court, she never stops moving. She outworks and outplays almost every other middle we play.”

Matheny entered the season fighting for a spot on the varsity squad like every other junior. But with two girls taller than 6 feet as her competition, she had an uphill climb. She refused to give in.

“I don’t think of my height as a disadvantage,” Matheny said. “I just have to use other things to make it, like my speed.”

Relying on her speed and hustle won over head coach Beth Newton. According to Shelley, Matheny beat out Donnell for the second middle blocker position because she brings some unique skills to the squad.

“She’s able to close a block on one side of the net and be on the attack on the other side the next time the ball goes up,” Shelley said. “There are very few players who can do that, and she has to do it to make up for not being as tall.”

Matheny said that her endurance comes from her background in soccer, the other sport that she plays for Rock Bridge. That attribute comes in handy, Matheny said, when she wants to even the playing field against taller opponents.

“On the athletic side of it, I can try to wear out the other middles,” Matheny said, “and I can go longer and faster than them sometimes.”

Her speed helps, but it is a constant battle to overcome her opponents, especially when they are playing their best.

“I try not to think about other people’s heights when I play, because it’s easy to get intimidated,” Matheny said. “But when I’m getting just devoured at the net, it’s definitely intimidating.

“It’s hard getting up on blocks, but that only pushes me harder.”

Newton said she has confidence in Matheny despite her shorter stature, and that Matheny has proven herself on many occasions. In fact, Newton sees a strategic advantage for her squad whenever the junior is on the floor.

“Nikki usually matches up against the other team’s second middle blocker, who is usually the slower of the two,” Newton said. “For us to go against that, it really gives us an advantage, and opens up our offense. And the fact that she is shouldered by our outside hitters means that we can still have a strong block.”

Lange, the starting middle blocker for the Bruins, said that having Matheny behind her doesn’t bother her at all, saying that Matheny always holds her own.

“She makes up for it because she comes up strong and she can jump,” Lange, a senior, said. “At an MU camp that we went to, there were girls like Nikki who weren’t quite as tall as the other blockers, but they were fast. That definitely helps.”

Newton insists that Matheny runs purely on determination.

“She’ll look across he net at the other player and say ‘I’ll beat you to every spot,’” Newton said after the team’s Wednesday afternoon practice. “And when they’re getting tired, she’s just getting more fired up. That’s when she plays her best.”

“That’s when she’s 6-foot in her own mind,” Shelley said.