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Howland’s Nia Grant contributing at Penn State
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Howland graduate Nia Grant (7) goes up for a kill during a recent match. Grant, a sophomore, is a starter at middle hitter for Penn State. The Nittany Lions are a perennial NCAA power and are ranked No. 2 this season.
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.
As a sophomore, Nia Grant is having an impact on the 2012 Penn State women’s volleyball team, ranked No. 2 nationally.
As a middle hitter, the 6-foot-2 Grant, a 2010 graduate of Howland High, has started all 29 games for the 27-2 Nittany Lions.
As a matter of fact, she’s pretty good.
As a freshman — as in fresh out of high school — Grant didn’t start her first game, but she did the second, and third and fourth and ...
“I wanted to be a starter sooner than later,” Grant said of her first season.
“I didn’t want to sit, I wanted to play,” she said, admitting that she had to work to convince coach Russ Rose of her worthiness. “He said it wouldn’t be handed to me, so that’s pretty much what I didn’t get.”
As a middle hitter, Grant learned the hard way.
After sitting during a late August game against Oregon in 2011, Rose switched the lineup around and Grant made her debut in Penn State’s second game against USC, during which she had 11 kills in 17 errorless swings and was second on the team with eight blocks.
She started 32 matches and was second on the team with 107 total blocks, averaging 0.91 blocks per set.
Nia had 151 kills in 2011 with a .346 hitting percentage (rate of kills in relation to attempts).
She’s a full-timer again this season, during which the 19-year-old has 167 kills and a .379 hitting percentage.
Her transition from outside hitter in high school wasn’t hard, but technique-wise, it was because the outside and middle are two different positions.
“It’s a lot faster, but I like it a lot because you can do a lot more and have more options, offensively, in the middle,” she said. “That compares to the outside position where you’re getting a lot more outlet balls and it’s not as fast. It’s a change of pace.”
In 2011, Penn State, which won four straight national titles (2007-2010), won two matches on its home court before losing to eventual national champion UCLA in the second round at the Kentucky regional.
With just two seniors, the Nittany Lions are mostly juniors, sophomores and freshmen.
In a 3-0 win over Northwestern on Nov. 10, Grant and junior Deja McClendon (Louisville, Ky.) had eight kills apiece.
This season’s two losses were to Nebraska and Oregon State. If there is a rival, Grant thinks it’s Nebraska, a relative Big Ten newcomer that Penn State has split with in four matches over the last two years.
A highlight this season so far was against Stanford at University Park.
“It was the home opener against a good team and we had a chance to show what we could do,” she said of the 3-2 win on Aug. 31.
In contrast to high school, Grant found that it’s difficult to rise above the rest — talent-wise — in college.
“In high school, I overpowered everyone, but now I’m just average,” she said.
Grant said that a lack of height isn’t reason enough for a high school player to renounce volleyball when considering college.
“It depends on the school and its division,” she said. “You don’t have to be 6-3 and there’s no special criteria for a girl who puts in the time and has the determination and realistic expectations.”
Grant is a communications/arts and science major, but she may consider a future as an air traffic controller.
“I researched it and job-shadowed and I liked what I saw,” she said.