Katie Virtue – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/27/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
%^$Katie Virtue started the first 25 matches (21-4 overall) this season for Ohio State. Her last seven starts (4-3) were played in pain. A stress fracture in her left foot kept her out of practice the last four weeks, but she continued to play.%^$
%^$”The pain level goes up and down, Virtue said. “Last weekend (vs. Michigan) it was starting to feel a little worse when I was playing.”%^$
%^$The Buckeyes lost that match 13-15, 9-15, 9-15. It was OSU’s first blanking of the season. For Virtue, a player who never had a major injury, it resulted in her not playing the next night against Michigan State.%^$
%^$”It was decided to take it easy for a little bit and see if we can get it feeling a little better,” she said. “We are just playing it by ear.”%^$
%^$No determination of her playing status has been made at this time.%^$
%^$For Virtue and her teammates, currently ranked 17th nationally and 22-6 overall, the season started out in high fashion. OSU won its first 16 matches for the best start in the history of the program.%^$
%^$”We were freshman last year and now we have a little more experience,” Virtue said. “We have worked really hard in the off season. We just really wanted to come in and have a good year. We set high goals. Those goals were to be back on the top of the Big Ten and go farther in the NCAA Tournament. We knew we wanted to have a better season than last year. I think the experience we all had, and all the time together over the winter really helped.”%^$
%^$The Buckeyes run a fast-paced offense that Virtue, last year’s Big Ten Freshman of the Year and a member of the Asics/Volleyball Magazine Freshman All-American Team, directs. It has produced a unique balance with all five starters averaging three-plus kills per game.%^$
%^$”That is another reason why we are doing so well,” she said. “It is one of our main strengths. Everyone pitches in. There is not one person that another team can stop. We have a lot of options and everyone contributes and makes us stronger.”%^$
%^$An Ohio State Scholar-Athlete, Virtue is a student first. She, like all other student-athletes, must balance her education with her sport.%^$
%^$”My whole life, I have had to balance school and sport,” Virtue said. “It means time management. When I go to practice, I focus on practice. When I go home, I just know that I have to get my work done. I just have to be really disciplined and make sure I get what I need to do done. I have always had to do it. In coming to college, actually, I feel like I have more time than I did in high school.”%^$
%^$Life experiences have come as part of her overall volleyball career. In 1998, Virtue helped the USA team win a gold medal at the NORCECA Championships in Mexico and this past summer she played on the USA under-20 team in an international tournament in Italy where they beat Yugoslavia for the gold.%^$
%^$”Playing against other countries, they play the game a little different,” she said. “It broadens your view of volleyball as a game and of other cultures that I didn’t really even know about. When you go and travel, a lot of times, you get to meet the other teams. I went to Italy this past summer and I got to know a lot of the girls from other countries. I learned how they practice and played. It is a really cool experience. You realize that it is not just our country playing the sport. People are doing it different.”%^$
%^$Virtue’s progress as a player may have been slowed by injury, but her competitive drive remains. It may mean setting flat-footed to get some repetitions, but she will give her full effort to it. Currently ranked No. 6 on OSU’s career assist list with 2,593, she is just 29 assists short of moving to No. 5 on the list, a move that will come with time.
