Virtue Prepares for Challenging Season – Ohio State Buckeyes
8/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 26, 2002
By D. C. Koehl, Ohio State Athletics Communications
Senior setter Katie Virtue enters her final season as a member of the Ohio State women’s volleyball team. She and her teammates will open the 2002 season for the ninth-ranked Buckeyes against No. 4 Hawaii, No. 11 UCLA and No. 21 Colorado, in Hawaii, on Labor Day weekend.
Virtue, a two-time All-Big Ten selection, welcomes the challenge.
“It is a little different,” Virtue said. “This is definitely the toughest opening that I have had while I have been here. We are definitely excited for it. Going off to Hawaii and playing in front of thousands of people and just getting a chance to play against that high of competition is great.”
A tough non-conference schedule aside, the Big Ten season gets Virtue excited.
“I am really excited about the Big Ten season,” said Virtue. “The Big Ten is the best conference and we always have good matches. I am excited to get to play really good teams outside of our conference this year. There are different styles in the different conferences. It is a really good chance for us to play different teams all across the country instead of just in our conference.”
Virtue, the 2001 NCAA national statistical champion in assists per game at 14.23, has high expectations for the upcoming season.
“I am going to try to make this the best season I have had here,” Virtue said. “I think it is time for us to win the Big Ten championship. It is definitely on all of our minds. We have to let the freshmen know that that is what we want to happen. Every year gets a little better. I am going to go out a champion, hopefully.”
One of four returning starters from last season, Virtue and her teammates has given the extra effort to make this season great.
“I think that we can be excellent,” Virtue said. “Because we stayed (in Columbus) over the summer, I think that has helped a lot. The people that are returning, we were a small group last year and throughout the spring. I think we are ready to show our eight new people how it is done. Our eight freshmen are a great group and they are going to work hard and we are going to be able to use them.” At least two of those freshmen will start immediately out of the gate.
“I think so far of what I have seen of them that they are a good group,” Virtue said. They want to work hard. They are eager to play. They are freshmen and they will make mistakes. It is going to be a lot of adjustments for them. They are all up for it. We got to get at least two of them out there right away. They will be ready for it, whoever is out there. I think we are ready to help them.”
Part of the reason Virtue achieved a level of greatness is because of her coach Jim Stone.
“He is a great trainer,” Virtue said. “He really knows the game of volleyball. One of the biggest things I have gained coming here is that he has really challenged me to think more about the game and to be a better player. His training is so intense and I am glad I came and played for him in an environment where it was going to be tough and he was going to challenge me. He definitely pushes us and I know I got a lot better playing for him.”
Stone returns the praise on his starting setter.
“In the three seasons that Katie has been a starter for the Buckeyes, she has provided a great deal of stability to our entire program,” Stone said. “She practices hard on a daily basis, has high aspirations for both the team and herself, is successful academically and deals very positively with volleyball enthusiasts in the community, regardless of age. I could not ask more from an athlete that what Katie provides us every day. I have no doubt that Katie will finish her career playing very well and lead the team to a lot of wins.”
While things have gone well of late for Virtue, during her sophomore season she suffered a stress fracture of her left foot. She played seven matches with the injury before sitting out three contests late in the season.
“It was very tough,” Virtue said. “I had never had an injury before. It was hard to sit out of practices and sit out of matches at the end of the season when we were doing so well. It wasn’t easy at all. Even after a season coming back from it, wearing a boot for a while and just coming back from all that, it’s hard. It was mentally challenging. I guess a lot of athletes go through injury stuff. I am good to go now, feeling good, coming back from it.”
That devotion to the sport shows the true nature of Virtue as an athlete. She compares favorably with other OSU setters like Laura Davis, an AVCA National Player of the Year and former USA national team member and others. But Virtue is humble enough to know that others make her great.
“There is no way I take all the credit for that because even if I am putting up good balls and no one is swinging at them and getting kills, I don’t get assists,” Virtue said. “As a setter, it is not something that you necessary think about. I think more about getting my team good sets to swing at. If we are successful, hopefully, I am racking up the assists. People congratulate me, but I just want to say congratulate my hitters, congratulate my passers for making my life a little bit easier.”
Virtue expanded her experience by playing in Italy during her sophomore and junior summers.
“I think the experience of seeing how other countries play and playing in a little different environment is good,” Virtue said. “It is good to get out and see your sport being played all over the world and get a chance to talk to some of the girls on other teams and see how they practice and see what their volleyball experience is like. I think that is very interesting and just to play against them with different people that are not at my school from the U.S. and play against different countries and different styles of play really has broadened my whole experience.”
An education is of major importance to Virtue. A marketing major, she knows an education will be valuable after her playing days.
“I went into business because I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do and business was very broad and general,” Virtue said. “I think right now, if things keep going well and my body feels the way it does now, after the season, I want to try to keep playing either in the pro leagues in this country or overseas somewhere. That is the first thing that I want to do before I go out into the real world. Outside of volleyball, I don’t know if I will end up doing something with marketing. I am going to see where life takes me, whether it is coaching or maybe I’ll never have a job and just start a family. If I get a job, it will definitely be in some type of sports atmosphere.”
An Ohio State scholar-athlete and an academic All-Big Ten selection, Virtue was honored last season as a second team Verizon Academic All-District selection.
“Academics is definitely really important,” Virtue said. “I am the type of person that has huge goals for volleyball but I want to achieve high things in the classroom too and do my best there. As much as I would like to, I know I can’t play volleyball forever. I enjoy learning too, so it has been a good experience with just all the different classes we take. It is a plus for anyone to get an education and learn about the world.”
Family means a lot to Virtue who hails from St. Charles, Ill.
“I’ll see them during the fall,” Virtue said. “I came back this summer and I won’t go home until after the season. By now, I am definitely used to it and they are used to it. They come to so many of my matches, it is just really nice. I get to see them a lot in the fall and then in the winter and spring, not quite as much. I don’t really go home that much. I know why I am here and I know what I want to accomplish here and it is really important to me. They understand that too. Of course I miss them, but there is always the phone and I talk to them enough. It is part of growing up I guess. They are so supportive.”
As her career enters her final season, Virtue sums up her feelings about Ohio State in one word.
“Awesome,” Virtue said. “I love being a Buckeye. I have loved it here. It has not really hit me yet but this is the last one. I want to make the best of it. I have met so many incredible people and I love playing and training here. Everybody is just great and my teammates have been awesome.”
Virtue has had many accomplishments in her career, but none really stand out. The league coaches have tabbed the Buckeyes as the preseason favorite this season. If the prediction holds, it could rank as a major accomplishment for Virtue who left the question open.
“Hopefully after this season, I’ll have some better things,” Virtue said. “I guess I am still waiting for that. It is hard for me to pick out just a few things. Ask me in December.”
