Dec. 9, 2006

Silver, harmonious Broadway voices bump from the diminutive Ipod headphones Brandy Barnett is sporting minutes before a match with Northeast Conference rival Robert Morris University...

"But there is a way out...leap of faith, leap of faith...ooooooo...only thing to do is jump over the moon...find a way, to jump over the moon...only thing to do is jump over the moon..."

Theatre enthusiasts know that as a line from the classic musical "Rent" but sometimes, Barnett confides, it's another hit musical score that gets played religiously before a match - the "Wizard of Oz"-inspired "Wicked".

"Oh and I have to listen to them in a certain order," she says. "Because one time I didn't and I had an awful game."

Pre-game superstition is nothing new in the world of sports, and in the athletic community many times it serves as the rule rather than the exception. Wagner women's volleyball sophomore left hitter Barnett - a Second Team All-NEC selection - follows the same creed, as she also admits to avoid any and all conversation with anyone in her pre-game preparation.

"I try to visualize how the match is going to look and feel," she admits. "How I'm going to approach a dig, or how I'm seeing the ball for a hit."

Robert Morris is walking to their respective side of the court and setting up for the national anthem and the start of this early November match at the Spiro Sports Center. But before the anthem, however, as part of a promotion every member of the Seahawks is given a miniature, rubber toy volleyball to be thrown out to the bleachers of on-looking fans. Most of the players gave a friendly toss to the audience from where they where standing in front of the net.

Not Barnett, however.

She had a better idea.

Just as the balls are being thrown about she sets into a dead sprint for the bleachers for two men who have been their biggest fans all year, Ray Kowalski and his confidant Dennis, who sat front row for every single home match.

Now, it can be said that handing them the ball was a simple gesture, but right before a match with one of the premiere teams in the NEC (RMU would finish second behind powerhouse LIU this year) the fact that Barnett would have the presence in mind for such a courtesy shows she hasn't forgotten the people who haven't forgotten about her and her team. Examples like this display that her on the court success - which include two NEC Player of the Week honors to compliment the end of the year All-NEC nod - hasn't gone to her head.

How she has achieved this success so early in her collegiate career, however, was all about her head.

Using it.

"I didn't start to play volleyball until I was a freshman in high school, and I didn't play club volleyball until I was 16 years old," she says, explaining that "club" ball is a big deal in the volleyball universe, more or less a team you play for when you're not playing for your high school or college.

"I had to learn fast because the other girls were leaps and bounds beyond me, so I became a smart player before I became a physical player," she says. "Instead of just going up and muscling the ball, I learn to try and find holes where the players aren't and find the weaknesses of the opposing team."

While not one of the more imposing figures in the NEC, her teammates often refer to her as twig, her lanky, wiry disposition can catch an unassuming foe by surprise. No matter what Barnett says about being a heady player, you can't average 3.45 kills a game as she did based on pure intelligence. There has to be some "physicality", as she calls it, mixed in there.

One major asset to her progressive improvement as a player that might be overlooked is the club team she plays on back home in California, called the Rancho Valley Volleyball Club, where she has teamed up over the years with some of the best players in the nation from juggernaut schools such as Louisiana Tech, Stanford, and UCLA to name a few.

And as is the case for most sports, the better competition you play, the more your own game gets raised and improved. Barnett couldn't agree with this more.

She does admit, however, that being more than 2,700 miles can be hard sometimes and that she misses her family, friends, and some of the little things nearest her home in Claremont.

Like Fast Food.

"I have a whole list of places I have to go to when I take my visits home," she says. "P.F. Chang's (China Bistro), Del Taco, In N'Out (Burger) - they're all up there on the list."

But despite her occasional craving for a taste of home or a Californian drive-thru window, she feels she made the perfect decision in making the trek from the left coast to the Big Apple, says that she sees herself spending the rest of her life in California so it made sense to get away and experience something different on her own.

"The only times I was away from home for extended periods of time was when I went to volleyball camps or tournaments."

So it's Grymes Hill for now, it's the Seahawks emblazoned across the uniform, and it's listening to show tunes before every match...in specific order of course.

After the Robert Morris match Barnett and the rest of her teammates celebrate a solid home victory where they proved they could compete - and beat - one of the top dogs in their conference. Brandy had a huge hand in it, leading her team in kills with 21 while posting an impressive 11 digs.

Ironically enough, they would wind up losing to Robert Morris a few weeks later in the first round of the NEC volleyball tournament at LIU in Brooklyn. Up two games to none to the Colonials they would drop the next three in a row and lose in a frustrating fashion.

However, if there's one thing you can count on next year is that Barnett, while she might be a little stronger, a little wiser and obviously older, you can still count on her with those earpieces in and the Ipod blaring a Broadway number.

"...Only thing to do is jump over the moon...find a way, to jump over the moon...only thing to do is jump over the moon..."

She might jump for the moon, but you can rest assured she'll go for the kill on the way down.