Sept. 3, 2015
By Anita Nham, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" When redshirt senior Aiyana Whitney was in middle school, she decided to follow her sister Anissa Whitney's footsteps of playing volleyball after she saw her on the court. Her sister mentored and taught Aiyana numerous volleyball skills as best as she could throughout the rest of middle school and into high school.
Nearly seven years later, in 2011, Whitney played in her first collegiate match at Penn State.
Today, Whitney is leading the way in helping a young Penn State team grow.
After the Penn State Classic, Whitney was named to the All-Tournament team. In the season opener against Buffalo, Whitney led Penn State's offense with a match-high of 11 kills on .400 hitting. Her skills continued to shine as she recorded five blocks and six kills against Stony Brook, and 14 kills and two digs against Villanova in the two matches on Saturday.
"This offseason, I worked to get my volleyball IQ up, studying the game as much as possible, working on my blocking and trying to be a bigger presence at the net," said Whitney.
Whitney's impact at net and on offense is nothing out of the ordinary, but as a senior, Whitney knew that it was her time to truly lead the Nittany Lions to success.
"[There's] more responsibility [as a senior], which at this point in my career, and I would speak for the rest of the seniors, we can embrace because we try to set the tone in practice, and try to set an example for the younger girls," said Whitney. "[Being a senior] is about taking on more responsibility, doing as much as we can, doing more and helping out the rest of the team in that."
Nonetheless, it was not an easy ride for Whitney to get to this point in her career. During her sophomore year, she redshirted. However, she wouldn't change anything about that year.
"Absolutely [that redshirt season] made a difference," said Whitney. "At the time, I was playing with incredible upperclassmen and they pushed me every day in practice. I learned so much from them, so I really cherished that year in terms of development and learning the game."
Whitney's growing talent is evident. Last season, during her redshirt junior year, she started every match, recorded 15 double-digit kill performances and led the team in kills on over 10 occasions ââ'¬" once with 10 kills against then-No. 1 Stanford in the NCAA national semifinals, and once with 11 kills in the national championship win against BYU.
Furthermore, she received second team American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America honors and was honored as Big Ten Player of the Week (11/17) last year.
None of this would have been possible without the guidance from head coach Russ Rose and the other coaches.
"[The coaches] are super awesome. They help me get my game airtight, help me see the bigger pictures and seeing the game more and helping me take on more," said Whitney.
Her success continued this past summer as Whitney participated in the inaugural Big Ten Volleyball Foreign Tour. Big Ten volleyball student-athletes from all 14 schools traveled to Slovenia, Croatia and Italy to compete against some of the best athletes in the world as well as participate in community services initiatives.
Even with all these accomplishments, Whitney believes that she has room for improvement.
"I am definitely tired of getting tooled on the blocks, so it's definitely something I need to work on in the gym," said Whitney. "I need to work on my hands, getting the ball over and taking up more space. Just seeing the court more, attacking and making sure I'm playing defense."
Whitney has already made a huge mark on the Penn State women's volleyball program, but this is Whitney's final year, and she is more than ready to contend as the season wears on.
"Overall, I just hope that we can build to be a better team, build to play better together and work on getting back on the big stage," said Whitney.