Oestermeyer, Hucek hoping their moves pay off

Marielle Oestermeyer wasn't serious, was she?

She had been a hitter her whole volleyball life. Darn good playing middle at Downers Grove South since she was a freshman. Colleges lined her door, looking to pencil her into their front row.

But setter? Not even Oestermeyer's closest friends believed her.

"I was losing enjoyment for the sport," Oestermeyer said, "and I wanted to try something new. Setter was everything I was looking for."

Oestermeyer made the decision to move to setter a touch over a year ago.

She didn't go into it half-baked.

Oestermeyer began private lessons with Bonnie Pettigrew, a former All-America setter at Penn State. Twice a week, the two met at Edward Health and Fitness Center. Oestermeyer learned a setter's proper footwork. How to square toward the target and shape the ball.

"I was horrible when I started," she said, "way behind other setters."

If that wasn't frustrating enough, there was the cool reception colleges had to the idea of Oestermeyer as setter. Ten e-mailed back, still interested in her as a middle. Oestermeyer's future was a blank slate. She constantly questioned her choice.

As fate would have it, Ole Miss saw her during club season, looking for a setter. Oestermeyer had never heard of Ole Miss before then. But she found her perfect match and committed.

Downers Grove South is loaded with seniors, but it's still a work in progress with Oestermeyer at the most important position. She still works with Pettigrew once a week and puts in extra practice to feel out her hitters. Setting, she has learned, is not nearly as easy as it looks.

But now Oestermeyer is starting to think more as a setter, learning the tricks of the trade. It is starting to sink in with teammates, and with her.

"It's opened my eyes to the strategies of volleyball. You have to take into account so much more," she said. "It's brought a new love to the game for me."

Brianne Hucek hasn't changed positions this fall. But she, like Oestermeyer, is entering a brave new world.

Hucek transferred to Benet from Joliet Catholic for this, her senior year. She knew of most of the Benet girls from Sports Performance club. Still, Hucek was the new kid surrounded by returning seniors on a team pegged as the best in Illinois.

Hucek got her baptism under fire at a Benet summer camp where "there was no slacking off." She was welcomed to the team with a get-together at fellow senior Paige Vargas' house. "If I wanted to be thrown anywhere, it would be here," she thought.

When starting setter Beth Kinsella was lost for the season with a torn ACL, there was no place for Hucek to hide. Not that she was running anywhere.

"It came so fast I didn't have time to be nervous," Hucek said. "I didn't go in there expecting anything. My heart went out to her (Kinsella), but I was ready to take on that position. The team needed me."

Just like Oestermeyer, Hucek puts in the extra time connecting with her hitters. Getting things just right with middles, in particular, is a process. She tries to be vocal on the floor as setter, even as she blends in as the new girl.

The pressure has forced her to grow as a player, and as a person. Her new teammates bring out the best in Hucek.

Don't be surprised if the path down the fork in the road ends with either Oestermeyer or Hucek setting for a state champion.

Now that's a fresh thought either girl could get used to.