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Like Mother, Like Daughter Toughness, intense focus, and big heart


5-foot-6 bundle of intensity—a natural athlete who played the game like she loved it. Berrington’s forehead-slapping moment of revelation


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came later, when she recognized Haley’s mom. Barb Stein, a former EMU player every bit as tenacious as her daughter, later played against Berrington in a recreational league. Of course. The toughness, the intense focus, the big heart. “Haley and I have the same kind of personality,” says


Barb, now two shoulder surgeries beyond her playing days. “I was a leader—always talking. And I was scrappy. I’d throw myself all over the floor. Haley comes out bruised all over at the end of the day. You can tell she has a passion for the game.” The passion seems to be in her DNA. Barb was a standout


athlete at St. Mary’s Catholic Central in Monroe. The school started offering girls’ sports in 1974 and she played every season. Her senior year, she decided she would letter in four sports—basketball, volleyball, softball and track. “Barb was always very intent,” says her father, Edward


Cook. “She always had her game face on. In softball she played centerfield and very few people ran on her. If the other team had a runner on second base who tried to go home on a single, they were dead.” Barb accepted a scholarship to Eastern Michigan, where,


at 5-foot-4, she played volleyball and one season of basket- ball. She appreciates the charged atmosphere at Haley’s games in a way few others can, because her playing days were spent in cramped Warner Gymnasium. They had no cheerleaders, no pump-up music, no promotional posters or post-game autograph line. Haley’s position—libero—is a defensive specialty that


didn’t exist when Barb was playing. But it just may be the position both of them were born to play. In October Haley set a school record with 55 digs against Western Michigan. It was the fourth-highest dig total in a five-set match in NCAA Division I history.


Photo by Randy Mascharka


hen Eastern Michigan volleyball coach Kim Berrington started scouting Haley Stein, she saw a


by Amy Whitesall “You have to be an athlete because you have to be able to


change direction on a dime,” Berrington says. “You have to have an explosive first step, good eyes, a passion to go after it no matter what. “It comes from here,” Berrington says, tapping her chest.


“I don’t think you can teach someone that grit.” In those transitional years shortly after Congress passed


Title IX, Barb’s athletic scholarship amounted to an impro- vised combination of academic scholarships and work-study. To keep it, she tutored football players and worked in the laundry. When her coach, Claudia Wasik, retired in 1979, Barb’s


scholarship went to a taller setter, the type of athlete the new coach preferred. She finished her dental hygiene degree at Owens Technical College in Toledo. Though that stung, Barb was thrilled when Haley chose EMU over Notre Dame, Western Michigan and the College of Charleston. EMU’s campus is 35 minutes from their home in Carleton, which means there are always Steins, Cooks, friends and neighbors at home games. “When I was getting recruited by Eastern I didn’t take


into account how neat and special this opportunity would be,” Haley says. “I didn’t fully grasp it. Now, being a junior and evolving into an Eastern Michigan athlete—being an Eagle—I find it really neat. I love that my mom played here and can relate to a lot of things. It’s a lot more special now.” Haley grew up around volleyball—her mom coached high


school teams at Manchester and at Catholic Central. Haley played basketball and soccer, too, but Barb’s players were her role models and eventually she became one of them. Barb spent 11 years as an assistant coach at Catholic Central, but when the Michigan high school volleyball season moved from winter to fall, she retired from coaching so she could watch Haley play for EMU. “They’re only going to do it once,” says Barb. “Next year


is her senior year, and I want to travel to as much of the preseason stuff as I can. It’s so nice to be able to see your daughter play. It’s something you live for.” 3


Eastern | WINTER 2011 39


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