Collegiate Times

When most high school graduates say they want a change, they mean get a job or go to college far enough away from home where they can avoid parents but still come home when they can.

But for volleyball players Felicia Willoughby, Justine Record and Morgan O’Neill, a change meant traveling about 2,700 miles east to a city completely opposite of what they’re used to.

“I looked at a couple schools in California,” Willoughby said, “but I really wanted to try something different and something I wasn’t used to.”

All three hail from the Bay Area of California and surrounding suburbs of San Francisco. The coastal plains contrast with the mountains of Blacksburg, and while the citizens of the Bay Area fight smog, residents of Blacksburg cover their noses to guard against the smell of fresh manure.

“(California) is definitely different from here,” O’Neill said. “It’s more hectic I guess you could say. (It’s) not as relaxed because you can go more places you want.”

“The traffic is insane compared to here,” Record said.

Volleyball is a popular sport in California, giving them the opportunity to succeed.

“Volleyball is pretty popular on the West Coast,” Willoughby said. “You can see people on the beach. My friends are all into volleyball. Volleyball is in all the high schools. I think it’s pretty big back on the West Coast, but I think on the East Coast 4 it’s growing each year.”

“You rarely run into a bad team,” O’Neill said. “Throughout my high school career, because I was playing on like the No. 1 team in the nation, we never played a bad team. In club, you would always play the best teams.”

Despite the numerous differences between California and Virginia, Willoughby, Record and O’Neill all chose Blacksburg and Virginia Tech as their new home.

They’ve led the team to an 18-10 overall record and an 8-9 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Opposing teams struggle in Blacksburg, though. The Hokies carry an 11-3 record at Cassell Coliseum.

Willoughby, a junior middle blocker, is the oldest of the three Californians and might be the Hokies’ best player. Last year, she received All-American honorable mention and first-team All-ACC honors. She hit a single-season record .402 hitting percentage.

This year she’s hitting .306, which ranks second on the team.

Willoughby played at the same high level in high school. She finished her high school career by winning Bay Area Athlete of the Year, along with a trip to the state finals in 2006.

Thinking back to California, there’s one thing Willoughby misses the most.

“I love the beach,” Willoughby said. “Before I was looking at other schools, I was like ‘I have to go to a school by the beach,’ and I couldn’t go anywhere else. I’m nowhere near the beach right now — totally opposite of what I wanted.”

Before getting recruited, Willoughby didn’t know much about Tech.

“I knew about football and stuff,” Willoughby said.

It didn’t take much for Tech to win her over, though.

“(After getting recruitment letters) I was like, ‘Oh, it’s on the East Coast’,” she said. “I might as well go look at it and see how it is. The pictures in the brochure were pretty nice. I came to campus and loved it right when I stepped on campus. People are really nice, and the atmosphere, I just loved it here.”

Record, a sophomore outside hitter, took a different path to Blacksburg.

Besides playing in high school and winning the league title three of her four years, she competed in the 2008 Junior Olympic Girls’ Volleyball Championships. Her team won the bronze medal, but it was bittersweet.

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