2016 Collegiate Champions
NCAA Division I Stanford def. Texas 3-1
NCAA Division II Concordia St. Paul def. Alaska Anchorage 3-0
NCAA Division III Calvin def. Washington-St. Louis 3-0 NAIA
Hastings College def. Dordt (Iowa) 3-2
NCCAA Division I Trinity Christian College def. Campbellsville 3-2 NCCAA Division II
Maranatha Baptist def. Providence University College 3-0
NJCAA Miami Dade def. Iowa Western 3-0
CCCAA Fresno City def. Los Angeles Pierce 3-0 NWAC
Lower Columbia def. Linn Benton 2-0
Left, Minnesota’s Sarah Wilhite used a big right arm and lots of fire to help bring the Gophers to the national semifinals. She was named the AVCA Division I Player of the Year. (Photo: Eric Miller). Below, Nebraska’s Briana Holman put the hammer down in the middle against Texas. (Photo: University of Nebraska)
says. “And I felt like my success was all of our suc- cess.”
Another form of therapy, which was encouraged
by the Stanford coaches, was developing a deeper understanding of the game. “We told her, ‘You’re a physical player who hasn’t had to learn all about the game because you could do some amazing things, so watch and learn,’” Stanford Head Coach John Dunning says. “We wanted her to notice if blockers were doing things they shouldn’t do and why they were doing them. She was in a situa- tion where, if she became a better learner, she’d have the opportunity to be better.” Over time, she began to grasp the finer points,
like how good serving could make an opponent more predictable. “If you can [use your serve] to get the setter in a
certain position, she’s more likely to go with a long set or a back-set just because of her tendencies,” Ajanaku says. “A lot of people are creatures of habit. In situations where they’re pushed, they’re going to go with what they’re more comfortable with. If you can create situations where you know a couple of the possible outcomes, you’ll be more successful.” It could be that the biggest lesson for Ajanaku came this season, as she tried and tried to get her jump back to pre-surgery elevation. “At the beginning of the year, I wasn’t jumping
anywhere near where I was jumping before surgery,” she says. “And it was kind of uncomfortable for me. Before, I didn’t think much about jump testing. It would just be, ‘I’ll jump and touch what I can, and it’s usually higher than everyone else, so it doesn’t really matter.’ But (after surgery) I would jump and I felt like everyone was thinking, ‘Oh, she can’t jump as high. Is she going to be the same player?’ But it was really me who had those thoughts. I doubted myself more than anybody else did. And once I
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