Volleyball starts season with new team and a new motto for success

Volleyball has been a bright light for athletics at FIU. Home to multiple All-Americans, conference titles and an international cast of student-athletes, it has captured the interest of the FIU Panther faithful.

Leading the team this year are two seniors, Ines Medved and Natalia Valentin.  Valentin, entering her third year on the team, has been named the SBC Preseason Player of the Year thanks to her record-setting play last year. Led by three-time Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year Danijela Tomic, the team adopts a motto each year – this year’s is “Arete,” the Greek word for giving it your all and trying your best.

“It’s about working the hardest we can every day,” Tomic said. “If we give our best every time we come to practice and every time we line up to play, and at the end of the season we are in the NCAA’s, that is great. But, if we’re not, that is also good because we know that we did everything that we could. We’ve always had that philosophy but it’s more emphasized this year with this group. What we ask them every day is to give us their perfect effort.”

Medved and Valentin might seem like an unlikely duo. Medved, who hails from Croatia, is a relatively quiet leader, while Puerto Rico’s Valentin is a vocal on-the-court motivator. Despite coming from opposite sides of the globe, these two players have formed a bond that has allowed them to take a position of prominence within the team and act as mentors to the seven new players on the court this fall.

“It is a lot different; we have a lot to work on,” said Valentin. “Our role this year is to tell the girls what to do, how to help the team and to show them how to play at the collegiate level.”

Getting used to differences and having to put in extra work is nothing new to Medved and Valentin, as both had to acclimate to FIU and Miami while pursuing careers as Divison I athletes. Says Medved, “The transition was pretty big, the culture, people and language were very different.”

The team (1-2) recorded its first win of the season last Friday against Florida A&M. They travel to Ames, Iowa, Friday for the Iowa State Challenge, where the Panthers will take on South Dakota State on Friday and North Dakota State and No. 12  Iowa State on Saturday.

As they enter their senior year Valentin and Medved face their toughest on-the-court test yet, taking the reins of a young and relatively inexperienced team. “They are freshmen, but they aren’t freshmen with experience. They need to be led by someone,” said Valentin of the team.

“This is a new year with new people,” says Medved.  “We cannot compare it to last year because this is a new team with a whole new system. You just turn the page and focus on being the best you can be.”

Their hard work with the team is already paying off, as the incoming freshman and other players begin to step up and work together.

“This team is already bonding, the competition has been really good,” says an enthusiastic Valentin.

Adds Medved, “They are really working hard, and we need to help them, but everyone is working hard.”

— Julian Kasdin