Volleyball: Dooley more than just an athlete

She thinks about her every day, a lifelong friend who spurred her eternal passion. Pitt… She thinks about her every day, a lifelong friend who spurred her eternal passion. Pitt senior Meagan Dooley thought about Kristine on the court during her high school volleyball games when she heard her cheer her on from the stands. Dooley had class with Kristine, a special needs student, from elementary school and on. She had what Dooley described as “an eternal optimism and happiness.”

Now that Dooley is in college, the inspiration from Kristine’s glee pushes her toward success beyond the volleyball court. Dooley’s collegiate athletic career officially ended at Pitt last November after Pitt’s disappointing season-ending loss to Delaware. However, Dooley’s strong work ethic translates from the court to her studies. Dooley isn’t exactly one to boast about her hard work, so the Big East Conference did it for her on Feb. 5.

That day, the Big East conference announced that Dooley had won one of the most prestigious awards given to a Big East athlete: the Big East Female Scholar Athlete of the Year award. “I knew I had been nominated because I helped out with the nomination process by answering questions and things like that,” Dooley, a liberal studies major with a certificate in children’s literature, said. “But I was shocked because I never thought it would actually be me out of all the Big East schools.”

Dooley became the fourth Pitt student-athlete named Female Scholar Athlete of the Year and the first since former track and field standout Najuma Fletcher earned the recognition in 1996. She is also the first volleyball player in the conference to win the award since 1988, when Pitt’s Noreen Coughlin won it.

The award is no surprise to those know her best. “One of the great things about Meagan is she deserves every award she gets because she puts a lot of time and effort into those accolades,” Pitt women’s volleyball coach Toby Rens said. “She knew what mattered most to her, and that’s being very successful on the court and in the classroom.” It’s fitting that when her coach wanted to tell her about the award, she was busy working at Panera. She stood at the register, not as a decorated volleyball player, but as a cashier, making bagels and keeping things organized. She felt the incessant buzzing of her phone, a phone call.

Finally on her break, she checked the message. It was a voicemail from Rens. She knew the men’s scholar athlete was announced the previous day and figured the women’s announcement was coming that day. But she didn’t expect the congratulations coming from her coach on the voicemail. It was a shock, Dooley said, and she had to check the Big East’s website on her phone before calling her parents with the news. Dooley, who has a 4.00 GPA, was an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America First Team selection in 2009 and is a three-time Big East All-Academic pick. Dooley won the award, selected by the conference’s Academic Affairs Committee, with her unique combination of superior athletic achievement and academic determination.

The award, given to one man and woman from all of the Big East schools per year, also grants the winner a $4,000 scholarship to use toward graduate studies. The award only cemented Dooley’s future plans. She plans to attend Pitt’s Graduate School of Education for a one-year program to receive her master’s and certification in special education. She hasn’t been notified she’s been accepted yet, but Dooley said she “anticipates getting in.” “I definitely want to get in the classroom for the first few years and see how it goes, then possibly move into administration at some point,” Dooley said. Dooley won’t let her volleyball passion subside to her teaching. She hopes to coach the level she will be teaching.

Her high school coach at Lakota West High School has already spoken to her about joining his staff. “That’s always an option, going back to my hometown and coaching there and teaching there, which would be great,” Dooley said. Those high school kids better hang on Dooley’s every word. She knows a thing or two about racking up kills and blocking. After four seasons with the Panthers, Dooley is second overall in Pitt history in career total blocks (519), block assists (394) and solo blocks (125). A perfect block has three very distinct sounds. One after another, the sound of synthetic leather panels, layered over a cloth layer, layered further over a rubber bladder, which is otherwise known as a standard, NCAA-approved volleyball, striking an opposing player’s cupped palm. Then, maybe two milliseconds later, the ball again strikes Dooley’s hands, only to barely an instant later, slam down on the Fitzgerald Field House hardwood floor. It sounds something like, “BAM! BOOM! BAM!” Three clear sounds, two hands, one point Pitt. Dooley’s block electrifies the crowd. She pumps her fist, shouting “Yeeaaahhh!” as she strides into the huddle with her teammates. “I would say the thing that pumps me up the most is blocking someone’s hit straight to the ground but getting a really great kill is definitely a close second,” Dooley said. Her determination on the court carries off of it, and she said she was always interested in education, even at an early age. “I was always the little kid playing school in our basement and really into whatever teachers were doing, whether it was grading papers, or anything,” Dooley said.

According to some teammates, it didn’t stop when she was young. “It’s kind of the joke on the team,” junior Amy Town said. “Whenever anything happens, like when she writes things on the board, packing lists for road games, it’s always really neat and in good writing and we would always say, ‘She’s such a teacher.’” Perhaps it’s also the reason for her early morning study habits on road trips.

Rens said he would often spot Dooley reading on the coach bus the morning before matches, way before any other teammates would rise. “A typical road trip is Meagan studying on the bus for hours,” Rens said. “She’s very dedicated, very focused all the time.” Her focus and determination only bring her closer to a teaching career. Teaching is Dooley’s dream. It’s a dream that started with knowing a single person: Kristine. Today, Dooley doesn’t talk much with Kristine, who still lives in Dooley’s hometown of West Chester, Ohio. But she still marvels at her unremitting pleasantness.

“She was always laughing and enjoying whatever she was doing,” Dooley said. “This is incredible to me when you really think about the cards she has been dealt in life.” There’s an old saying, reiterated in the movie “Six Degrees of Separation,” that reads, “Every person is a new door to a different world.” Kristine brought joy to part of Dooley’s life. It’s fitting, in return, that Dooley will carry that same joy with her the rest of her life, a gift to her students who need it the most.