A lot of West Coast college students spend their summers on the
beach. Most of them relax under the sun, and by the time they leave
the sand they are bronzed and flush with a new tan. Junior Brynn
Murphy left the beach with a brand new volleyball game.
Murphy’s training sessions over the summer were not
““ pardon the pun ““ a day at the beach, however. She
participated in drills three times a week on sand courts with Pat
Zartman, teammate Chrissie Zartman’s father. Pat ran a clinic
over the summer open to any volleyball players serious about
improving their games, and Murphy eagerly jumped at the chance to
enhance her skills.
Despite her obvious dedication to offseason training, even UCLA
coach Andy Banachowski couldn’t be sure what he would get out
of Murphy when the season began. He had high hopes that she would
continue to develop, but he didn’t know what to expect.
“Let’s just say I was projecting,” Banachowski
said.
“I made a good projection,” he added with a
smile.
Murphy played with anyone that was around; sometimes she played
with teammates, sometimes with near strangers.
One weekend in particular, she was invited to enter a tournament
by Nancy Mayer, a 30-something, semi-serious volleyball player.
Murphy had never before participated in true 2-on-2 beach
competition. Normally, it takes months and years to develop the
kind of trust and comfort in a partner that is required to compete
at a high level: Murphy knew Mayer only from Pat Zartman’s
camp.
Throw that theory out the window: The duo won the event.
“It was a single-A tournament, my first one, and we ended
up winning,” Murphy said. “We got our AA rating right
there, and she (her partner) had worked so hard for a long time
trying to get that. She was really excited about it.”
Brynn Murphy emerged from that tournament an entirely new
player.
“She can put the ball away every time now,” junior
Krystal McFarland said. “When you play on the beach you have
to play with every skill. You have to pass, block and
hit.”
Her lateral movement, quickness, strength and technique all
improved as a result. But most noticeably, when Murphy returned to
UCLA, she found herself seeing the court from a whole new angle.
Or, more specifically, a whole new elevation.
Her vertical leap increased more than three inches, and the
6-foot-3 middle blocker can now reach a height over 10 feet.
Playing on the beach had an unforeseen consequence, and Murphy has
enjoyed reaping the benefits.
“It gave me so many more shots in hitting, more variations
and angles,” Murphy said.
Things look good from above. The hard work over the summer paid
dividends on the court. Her kills per game are up by 1.27, and her
hitting percentage is .340, up nearly 100 points from last season;
virtually every significant statistic has dramatically improved, so
much so that Banachow-ski altered his lineup early in the year
after getting his first glimpse at his new middle blocker.
Instead of playing a traditional role as middle blocker or
outside hitter, Murphy plays what Banachowski calls a
“flex,” essentially a combination of those two
positions that changes based on player rotation. More importantly,
it accommodates her developing skills.
“This is just part of her evolution,” Banachowski
said. “We’re putting both of those together as a result
of the skills she put together on the beach.”
The metamorphosis that began on the beach has extended even so
far as her personal character. Nicknamed “Mom” by her
teammates, Murphy is not always the most animated player on the
court.
“She has Mom-like tendencies. She takes care of us, and
keeps us in line,” junior Heather Cullen said.
“She’s more conservative when we’re all
crazy.”
Confidence, Murphy admits, has been a problem for her in the
past. But now, after her experience on the beach, she feels more
comfortable in her own skin and more assured in her abilities as a
player.
“She takes charge now, she’ll take the ball from
you,” Cullen said.
At last, Murphy has finally taken heed of the advice her coach
has been giving her for three years now.
“(Banachowski) kept telling me, “˜you’re a good
player, you need to get that in your head.’ I’ve worked
on it a lot, on being a more vocal leader,” Murphy said.
“Sometimes I’ll still have to look at the stat sheet
to get my confidence back,” she said.
Numbers, as they say, don’t lie; Brynn Murphy’s stat
sheet looks awfully good.