Having already tallied 290 kills for the season, Missie Stidham is a dominating force for the Sacramento State Hornets. She leads the Hornets in attacks per game (4.92) and service aces (30).

Before becoming a collegiate athlete, Stidham played at two different high schools. Her first two years were spent at Kerman High School. Her sophomore year, Stidham was named the league’s MVP in 2002.

In fifth grade, Stidham played volleyball, soccer and basketball. Despite being an accomplished athlete, Stidham dislikes the outdoors and decided to stick solely with volleyball.

“I mainly picked volleyball my freshman year, because I don’t like the outdoors, and I was more excelled at volleyball,” Stidham said.

Although Stidham is a senior this season, it is only her first year playing for the Hornets. Prior to Sac State, she played three years at Saint Mary’s in Moraga, Calif. Playing for the Gaels, she was named All-West Coast Conference every year. She was named first-team in 2005 and honorable mention in 2004 and 2006.

A continuing conflict between Stidham and the coaches at St. Mary’s enticed her to move to Sac State.

“I really just wanted to be happy my senior year so I thought Sac State would be a better choice and I really liked (coach) Debby (Colberg) when I met her the first time,” Stidham said.

It was an easy decision for coach Debby Colberg to add Stidham to her 2007 lineup. Stidham sent Colberg a release from St. Mary’s prior to moving to Sacramento.

“She sent us a release and then I just e-mailed her, and then she e-mailed me back and we kept in contact,” Colberg said.

In the beginning of the volleyball season, Stidham came down with a mild case of mononucleosis. She had been with the team for less than a month and already she missed the start of summer practice.

“(Debby) is really big on running, so I think doing that helped me get back into shape and it helps me last longer during the games. I think all the conditioning is really an important factor in how I play,” Stidham said.

During her fight with mono, Stidham struggled to put big numbers on the board during the first five matches, averaging only 3.60 kills per game with a .168 hitting percentage.

Since recovering from mono, Stidham has posted remarkable numbers each match. Over the last nine matches, her numbers have constantly increased. She leads the Hornets in kills (4.92 per game) and digs (4.51 per game). Over the last 11 matches, her powerful jump serve has tallied 20 service aces.

At both the Bama Bash in the beginning of the season, and this past weekend at the USF Invitational, Stidham received MVP honors. She has also been named Big Sky Conference Player of the Week for the weeks of Sept. 3 and Sept. 17.

Most recently, Stidham was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Week. She is the first Big Sky Conference player to be honored since 1998. She is also the first Sac State player to be honored since the team joined the Division I conference in 1991.

Although her college career will be coming to a close at the end of the season, Stidham plans to pursue a career in professional volleyball. Her father’s friend already has an agent picked out to help her career take off.

“I’m debating on going overseas to play pro, but over the last few months I’ve been deciding to play beach,” Stidham said.

While Stidham does enjoy being in Sacramento and close to her hometown of Fresno, she is considering moving down to Southern California to train after college.

With endless possibilities open for Stidham, her only worry was playing for a brand new team in her last year of collegiate play.

Although she was somewhat worried about Sac State’s system of play compared to St. Mary’s, Stidham was most concerned about bonding with her new family.

“I thought it would be hard at first (to bond) but the team welcomed me with open arms,” Stidham said.

Before bringing Stidham to the new team, even Colberg worried that her dominant presence would stir up trouble.

“I think that was our only worry (about her) because she is such a talent so you know she was going to bring the skill. It was just a matter of how she was going to adjust to a whole new team and coaches, but I think she just needed to get out there and play and she’s done really well,” Colberg said.

Stidham’s teammates were ready to have a new player in their atmosphere. Senior Lindsay Haupt knew there wouldn’t be any competition for leadership between the girls.

“Missie has a great attitude. She plays every point like it’s valuable, which makes her a great player, and on top of that she is a fun girl. She just fits right in, with her personality and the way she plays,” Haupt said.

Although some dominating players have big attitudes toward their teammates, Stidham has never encountered a problem with any other Hornet

Junior setter Rose Burke considers herself lucky to have an outside hitter as forgiving and respectful as Stidham. Burke was eager to work with a new hitter who is older than she is.

“I was a little scared that since she is older than me and a transfer, that she would try to act a little tough, but she is really easy to play with. If I give her a terrible set, she never says a word about it, which is really awesome,” Burke said.

As the Hornets begin their first week of Big Sky Conference play, the team has high hopes for the NCAA tournament. Stidham knows she has a better chance of getting a conference championship with the Hornets than she did with St. Mary’s.

“I’ve never gotten first in conference before so I’m really looking forward to getting that and making it to tournament. Hopefully we can make it the whole way because we’re planning on it,” she said.

Alicia de la Garza can be reached at [email protected].