Taking the court facing Tarleton State University on a Thursday night, freshman outside hitter Andrea Owens, the second tallest woman on the team, gets ready. The 6’2″ Arizona native is in her first year of college volleyball and already making an impact for the Mean Green.
Owens’ performance on the court has garnered attention from Conference USA. Owens has been named Freshman of the Week for the conference on two occasions in the 2021 season, with the latest coming after 21 kills in two games.
The team has had a competitive season with the team fighting for a conference tournament spot and finding themselves in second place in the west division of C-USA late in the season.
Owens has been an integral part of the team going down the stretch, posting 10 or more kills in three of the last four conference games of the season. Owens also played in 15 sets of those contests.
Owens has volleyball in her blood. Her mother, Natalia played volleyball for Washington State University and the Peruvian national team in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Natalia, along with Andrea’s father, Michael, coached the outside hitter throughout her entire career in club volleyball. Although she does not play for them anymore, Owens’ parents are integral to her life and still coach her on the phone from 955 miles west in Arizona.
“They know a lot about volleyball, so it’s interesting,” Owens said about her parents. “They call me after games and they’re like ‘oh you didn’t do too good,’ it’s pretty great having them as coaches.”
On the northeast side of Tucson, Arizona at Salpointe Catholic High School, Owens was a four-year letter winner in volleyball, leading her team to a 4A state division title her freshman year, which earned her Freshman of the Year honors.
By the end of high school, Owens was named to the Southern Arizona All-Decades team, named to the Arizona all-state team all four years of her career and held Salpointe’s record for kills with 934.
Far from her family and in a new state, Owens has found herself trying to adjust to a new place, something that has been tough for the young outside hitter. However, Owens’ Mean Green teammates have been helpful in finding her a sense of family in Denton.
“It’s been tough, but the team has really accepted me and it’s great having them as my family,” Owens said. “Volleyball is definitely different here, it’s a lot tougher. The people are a lot nicer [in Texas] as well.”
Owens has found a tight connection with her teammate and position-mate, senior outside hitter Rhett Robinson.
Idolizing the senior for years, Owens attended a camp that Robinson was present at when she was 13 years old. While Robinson was set to join North Texas the next year following the camp, Owens was not even in high school yet. Immediately influenced by Robinson, Owens said that since that camp, she wanted to follow in Robinson’s footsteps.
Since joining North Texas in 2018, Robinson has been a key part of the team. The 5’11 outside hitter is top-10 in career kills for the university, while also being named to All-C-USA in the last two seasons.
Robinson commends all the younger players for having a “sense of composure” about themselves at a young age. Owens has had to step up for injured sophomore outside hitter Kenzie Smith this season, a task that Robinson said Owens is doing well.
“Once we had Kenzie [Smith] go down, we needed someone to step into that position, and Andrea [Owens] has done a great job of it,” Robinson said. “She’s got some great swings, she’s really smart and she works hard.”
Head coach Andrew Palileo said that he likes what he is seeing from Owens and his young players down the stretch, but there is room to improve.
“They’re doing a good job so far…definitely could have them play a little more consistently,” Palileo said of his young players.”The effort level could be a little more high.”
As the team heads into a potential postseason race, Owens continues to learn from older players and improve herself going forward. While only a freshman, Owens understands that to find success, she has to learn front the more experienced players around her.
“I look up to the people that are above me…like I have Rhett [Robinson] here, which is amazing,” Owens said. “Just knowing my part in the team and trying to keep doing what I have to do to stay successful.”
Featured Image: Freshman outside hitter Andrea Owens jumps and prepares to spike the ball in the last home game of the season on Oct. 28, 2021. Photo by John Anderson
Article Originally Published by Reed Smith on North Texas Daily
Source: North Texas Daily