B EACH VOLLEYB ALL Recharged
Brooke Sweat grinded through the Olympic qualifying process while battling a painful shoulder injury to make it to Rio with Lauren Fendrick, but she has started this quad with a new partner, a stronger shoulder and a revitalized attitude by Jon Hastings
THE MESSAGE WAS SIMPLE AND DIRECT, BUT IT was just what Brooke Sweat needed. It was mid-October when the text pinged: “Hey Brooke, do you want to play next year?” It was from Summer Ross. It was so concise and to the point that it made Sweat feel right. She got back to Ross and they agreed to play the 2017 season without even one practice together. Sweat, a native of Fort Myers, Florida, was still recovering from the
bittersweet experience in Rio de Janeiro that prompted a longer offseason than normal resulting in not touching a volleyball for three months. She was proud of the accomplishment of becoming one of only four American women’s beach players competing at the 2016 Olympics, but like most fierce competitors, her goal was not just to show up. An 0-3 Olympic record hurt, especially since it included two matches that both Sweat and partner Lauren Fendrick thought they should have won. “We obviously wanted to go down there and play our best volleyball, and we didn’t exactly do that. So that part is frustrating and heartbreak- ing,” Sweat says. “But we fought for every point. We gave ourselves chances to win two of those matches.” Sweat, who battled a rotator cuff tear in her hitting shoulder through much of the qualifying period, understands she wasn’t at full strength in Rio. Even though she soaked in much of the Olympic experience, the loss- es still gnawed at her. “(The experience) isn’t what I was there for,” she says. “I was there to play volleyball and win, and that’s not what happened. So I took it really hard. As soon as we were out, I was pretty much in the hotel room for two days straight. I didn’t leave, didn’t go anywhere, didn’t talk to anyone. I changed my flight and went back to Florida. It was devastating.” That’s why it was perfect timing when she got the text from the 24-year-
old Ross, who has a reputation of being a little goofy and laid back. Sweat and Fendrick attacked the qualifying process with such a businesslike ap- proach by chasing FIVB points all over the globe, they might as well have been a CPA firm. When Sweat paired with Ross and began playing with a shoulder that was finally healing, it helped free up her game. The pair posted the top American finish in February at the FIVB season-opening Fort Lauderdale Major, reaching the semifinals before losing to two top Brazilian teams and ending up in fourth place. That was one spot ahead of 2016 Olympic
42 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
usavolleyball.org/mag “
She is completely relentless and willing to run through a wall for a ball. She wants to be the best in the world and that infectious quality rubs off on everyone. When I am around Brooke, I only want to do my absolute best because that
is all she accepts. — Ty Tramblie
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