Freshmen a big hit for Pitt

Ordinary? No. Average? Hardly. Your typical freshmen athletes? Not this group.

This year’s… Ordinary? No. Average? Hardly. Your typical freshmen athletes? Not this group.

This year’s newcomers to the Pitt volleyball team have made quite an impact for a team primed to make a run in the upcoming Big East conference tournament.

After Sunday’s upset win over powerhouse Notre Dame, this freshman class has proven that it’s ready to compete. All season long, these six athletes have been contributing, posting big numbers and making a difference in games and everyone, from their teammates and coaches to the spectators at the games, has noticed.

“I haven’t, in my 10 years as a coach, used as many freshmen as I’ve used this year, and that’s just a fact: I never use freshmen,” head coach Chris Beerman said. “I’m usually all about developing players, but we actually had some freshmen beat out current players, and that means your class is good, when your freshmen beat out people that have been in the program.”

Nicole Taurence is one of those players. Taurence has been the starting setter for the Panthers for most of the season. Watching a game, though, it would be tough to identify her as a first-year player.

Earlier this season, Taurence was named Big East Rookie of the Week. She tallied 92 assists in two matches, racking up 52 in a win against South Florida. Taurence became only the fourth Panther to receive this honor, joining sophomore Diana Andreyko on that list.

“Normally, freshmen setters need a year of training,” Beerman said. “They need to get used to college, they need to get used to being with the other players, but [Taurence] started for us the majority of the year. She’s already way ahead of schedule.”

“Coach told us this group was great, and they are pretty good,” Andreyko said. “They’re working hard and practicing hard, but as freshmen there are going to be freshman mistakes, everyone goes through it. That’s part of being a freshman. But they’ve definitely fulfilled all the goals I was expecting.”

Taurence isn’t the only one raising eyebrows, however. Allie Cherven and Stephanie Ross have also been making a huge difference for the Panthers up front. This comes a year after the Panthers graduated stand-out middle-hitter Megan Miller. Cherven certainly needs to build experience, but is well on her way to going down as one of Pitt’s great players.

“Allie is certainly a good player and has certainly been a leader for us this year,” Beerman said.

Just as Taurence is hard to identify as a freshman, Cherven’s ability and competitiveness disguise her inexperience. Regardless, it’s the competitiveness that Beerman is looking for.

“They came in ready to play competitive and the main thing was, can they adjust to the level difference?” Beerman said. “It’s never the same when you come to college, just like any other sport, and they’ve handled it well. I think they’re learning that they still do make mistakes, but for the most part they feel confident and I think they’re on the right track.”

From Taurence stepping up as the team’s starting setter, to Cherven and Ross playing hard-ball at the net, to walk-on Melissa Stadelmen, all of the freshmen show signs of a bright future for Pitt volleyball.

“Stephanie Ross is on her way to becoming a leader, [Monica] Macellari is too. I think they all are,” Beerman said. “[Jessica] Moses is a kid that really competes hard. Even Stadelman, who walked on this year, has really shown flashes of brilliance. They’re a really exciting group and I can just envision them two or three years down the road just really being dominant.”

These players are the first recruiting class to arrive at Pitt with thoughts of the 2003 Big East Championship weighing in on their decision, and according to Beerman, that title victory has made this group a competitive one.

“This group was the first group that was coming here based on us winning. The previous groups had to believe in me,” Beerman said. “This group based their decision on us winning the Championship in 2003. This team came to Pitt because they saw a winner. Previous groups were all about building and developing, this group’s about winning championships and expecting to win championships.”