GNAC Sports

From special assistant to special player

Haley Kostrba has led Western Oregon on and off court this year

Chris Hagan
Statesman Journal

October 17, 2007

MONMOUTH -- Looking at Haley Kostrba's statistics, it seems as though someone made a mistake.

She's is listed as a senior but before this year, the Western Oregon volleyball player doesn't exist. Not one dig, not one kill.

But the stats are correct. This year, the Wolves found a way to add a freshman and a senior at the same time.

"She's a freshman athletically, but she's got so many athletic experiences and it all adds up for her," head coach Joe Houck said. "She hasn't shown any freshman tendencies in the conference season, she's just been a rock."

Despite not having played since high school, Kostrba has earned a starting spot and is part of one of the Wolves' best teams in nearly a decade.

Kostrba graduated from Gresham High School in 2004, helping the Gophers to a fourth-place finish at the Class 4A state tournament during her senior year.

Moving to college, Kostrba decided she didn't want to worry about the time that volleyball took up.

"After my senior year of high school, I went out on a good note so I thought I could take a break and focus on academics, especially coming to college," she said. "I really enjoyed it but it had been a big part of my life. It takes up a lot of your year, a lot of your money."

Kostrba and friend Claire Carpenter, both volleyball players and aspiring teachers, chose to come to WOU together and still are roommates. While Kostrba sat out, Carpenter joined the volleyball team as a freshman.

With her best friend on the team, Kostrba attended all the home games and eventually started helping with the team, earning the title special assistant to the director of volleyball operations.

"(It's) totally a made-up title, but it was a way for me to be involved and help out with office-type stuff they needed," Kostrba said.

She spent the next two years helping with the team. Kostrba made birthday cards and thank you notes, organized scouting reports, helped with youth camps, assisted with a reading program and kept score for the team. For her trouble, she got official business cards and the opportunity to work and travel with the team.

"Everything the girl touched was so far beyond, and you know people like that, they just get more to do, so pretty soon, she was just running the office," Houck said.

Although she wasn't playing, Kostrba still came out to open gyms and played with the team. Although Carpenter and other players kept asking her to play, it was watching the team struggle to a 7-19 record last year that prompted Kostrba to listen.

"We've been talking in her ear non-stop," Carpenter said. "I think that may have been what drove her to play because last year, we struggled a lot, and knowing she had the ability to make us better, it was hard for her to sit there and watch."

That and it being her senior year sealed it.

"Just watching them play and not always being successful, it made me think the best way I could help the program was by playing," Kostrba said. "I thought this is my last chance, so better do it."

Kostrba brought the idea up to Houck in the spring. He knew from Carpenter that she had played but wanted to take it slow.

"I was aware but there are a hundred kids here at Western who were varsity athletes and want to talk about trying out," Houck said. "I said, 'I'm never going to tell you no, but let's give it the spring and see how you feel.' "

Kostrba started the first few matches as she learned the ropes and while the actual freshman got used to college life. But Houck found it hard to dislodge her from the lineup.

"I kind of figured she'd start a few matches early, but we have some real talented freshmen," Houck said. "And then it just progressed to the point where it's just crazy, she's putting up 21, 22 kills, leading us in digs."

Kostrba also has been one of the better players in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. She ranks 15th in kills per game and seventh in digs.

"She has the ability to see holes," Carpenter said. "She's not just a big hitter outside, she has a lot of tips and rolls. She's all about the rag tag stuff."

And Kostrba also has served as team diplomat, connecting the upperclassmen and underclassmen.

"We have a very young group with Claire being the only other senior," Houck said. "It's a group of freshman and a group of beyond their years sophomores and juniors who went through a couple of seasons where we were pasted nightly. She's bridging the gap between those two entities."

Although Kostrba's and the team's success might have been unexpected, Houck said he'll never doubt his secret weapon.

"Nothing she does will every surprise me again," he said. "If someday she becomes president, I will be the first person who will vote her."

And Houck hopes he'll be able to do that one more season. Because she hasn't played before, Kostrba has another year of eligibility left.

"She's only a senior academically, eligibility-wise the door is open for her to consider returning as she goes after a master's degree," Houck said. "So there's emotion being spent daily to tie her in and see if wants to come back again."

Kostrba isn't sure what she'll do. But she's happy with how she's gotten here.

"Sometimes I think, 'What was I thinking?' " she said. "But with the way everything's worked out, how successful this season has been for Western, I feel like, hey, it worked out the way it was supposed to."