“We kind of had a reputation the last two years as being a team with the same guys starting the whole time,” said Harrell, who led the No. 5-ranked Anteaters (2-1) into the UC Santa Barbara/Elephant Bar Tournament that concludes today at UCSB. “But this is a whole different set of guys. I just want them to make their own team.”
Harrell has made a difference for Coach John Speraw, who took a chance on the athletic, though undersized product of Buchanan High in Fresno.
“I only played one season of club volleyball, and that was just to see if I could get recruited,” Harrell said. “And UCI was the only school that recruited me.”
Speraw said he liked Harrell’s competitive attitude and the fact that he was a serious student. But, in terms of technique, Harrell arrived as a virtual blank canvas.
“I was sure I’d never have to worry about his academics and I saw he had a great work ethic,” Speraw said. “But I wasn’t sure if he’d become a great middle blocker in our conference, because he was not a very big guy and, technically, he had a lot of flaws.”
Speraw, once a middle blocker for a national championship at UCLA, began the education process the fall of Harrell’s freshman year.
“He was goofy-footed as a blocker and he really only could hit one shot,” Speraw recalled. “We changed his footwork that first year and I thought he did a good job of accepting our coaching. He came out of Fresno and we needed him to play right away. And boy, what an experience it must have been for him, going out in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and taking a beating.”
Harrell said the practices, as much as the matches, were humbling, as UCI battled through a 9-20 campaign.
