Campus Canvass: Plummer powers Portland
Freshman steps in at middle blocker, helps Pilots compete in WCC
10/22/08
By Ray Hacke, Journal Sports Writer
Marissa Plummer did not expect to start for the University of Portland women’s volleyball team as a freshman.
“We were returning two seniors at middle blocker that were three-year starters and what I would consider stalwarts in the conference,” said Joe Houck, the Pilots’ first-year head coach. “We brought Marissa in thinking she would grow into a spot.”
Once the season started, however, the Pilots began to struggle. Hoping to shake things up a bit, Houck moved one of the returning seniors, Ashley Grayson, over to outside hitter to make room for Plummer.
Now Plummer, a 6-foot-2 Del Oro High graduate, is a fixture in Portland’s starting lineup. She’s also having the kind of season she expected to have once she got the opportunity to be a starter — just a little sooner than expected.
“I definitely knew that when given the chance I could be up there leading the team,” Plummer said.
Plummer is currently leading the Pilots in hitting percentage (.271). She is second on the team in blocks per game (0.68), third in total blocks (44 - 10 solo, 34 assisted), fourth in service aces (nine) and kills per game (0.69) and fifth in total kills (110).
“She’s very capable physically,” Houck said. “She has long arms, good feet and a fast arm when swinging. She’s also so intellectually and emotionally to a match that she’s able to make adjustments throughout the match. She gets stronger as the match goes.”
Plummer said she owed some of her success to the seniors who were ahead of her, Grayson and Jennifer Sheedy.
“They definitely weren’t going to give their spots up to me, but they had very constructive criticism and encouraged me nonstop,” Plummer said. “They helped me adjust to get to where I am now.”
At 5-16 overall and 0-6 in West Coast Conference play, Portland is still struggling, even with Plummer in the lineup. Still, Houck believes the Pilots are on the verge of turning a corner, having lost hard-fought matches to nationally ranked conference foes Pepperdine and San Diego.
Plummer’s a big reason for that, he said.
“Marissa is a fantastic emotional leader,” Houck said. “Every single match she’s had tremendous consistency for a freshman. She does a good job closing the block and has been a very good surprise for us this year.”
That’s high praise from a coach who, according to Plummer, didn’t initially seem interested in her services. Recruited by a coaching staff that was let go after last season, she had already signed her letter of intent when Houck took over the Pilots’ helm.
“When (Houck) first saw me play, he told me I wasn’t a player he originally would have recruited,” Plummer said. “Coming in, I had to prove myself because I felt I didn’t have a coach who believed in me.
“But I made some adjustments to his coaching style, and I now think he’s a good coach. We had a rough start, but it’s good now.”
A nursing major, Plummer hopes to become a pediatric nurse someday.
“I always wanted to work with kids, and for a long time I wanted to be a pediatrician,” Plummer said. “Then I decided I didn’t want to do the extra years in school. If I became a pediatric nurse, I could get into the (medical) profession a lot faster.”
In the meantime, Plummer is excited about the prospect of leading a volleyball program that has traditionally been a WCC doormat to bigger and better things.
“I definitely see us being more competitive in the conference in the years to come,” she said. “I don’t see us staying in the last position that we’ve been in for a really long time. I definitely see us becoming a higher-end program, and I definitely see myself being one of the leaders the next few years as we start to turn the program around.”
