For 12 years, Gosia Wlaszczuk played volleyball. And she was always a hitter, a natural position for a 5-foot-11 standout.

But she always wanted to play setter.

“It’s the coolest position on the court and I love leading,” she said. “I love being responsible for the game and making the plan. I feel the setter is the brain of the game.”

Finally, after a shoulder injury, back surgery and a teammate’s transfer, she got her wish. Post-surgery, Orange head coach Leonid Yelin told her since she couldn’t jump or hit, she should set.

And though two freshmen setters joined the team before the start of the season, the junior Wlaszczuk became SU’s first-choice setter, which she attributes to greater trust from her coach. She began practicing exclusively as setter in the second week of August, just as the preseason was getting underway. Through three games she has 83 assists, 14 kills and 30 digs.

As Wlaszczuk varies and improves her setter play, she attributes a lot of her early success to strong team play and encouragement from her teammates.

After SU’s 3-1 win against Niagara Sunday, Orange captain Lindsay McCabe told her she “did an amazing job” and that the team was proud of her.

Despite the compliments, Wlaszczuk is not impressed with herself. As a former hitter, she knows her sets need to improve. She said she would be upset as a hitter receiving the level of passes she makes now.

“I was a hitter,” Wlaszczuk said. “If I was getting such bad balls all the time I would be the angriest person in the world, complaining all the time.”

Middle blocker Monika Salkute said Wlaszczuk has improved since the preseason, when she began with only the basic concepts of setting. Now, SU can employ different combinations and more complex tactics during games.

Her coach agrees that she is improving but maintains that he will not treat her any differently because of her inexperience.

“If you are deserving to be a starter, we are going to treat you like one,” he said. “ … You have no excuse.”

Wlaszczuk needs to find a better balance between setting and tipping, Yelin said, but that it would come with time. She said she has always considered herself “a little bit tricky,” a talent that proved very helpful for her in her first three games as a setter.

She’s combined that deceptiveness with a natural aggression, which has accelerated her growth into the new position and allowed her to freeze opposing would-be blockers.

“You never know what she’s going to do, when she’s going to tip, when she’s going to set,” Yelin said.

On the court, Wlaszczuk is constantly talking, directing her teammates. She’s the setter — she has to.

During matches, her mouth is always moving just as much as her legs and body. And in press conferences, she talks more than her teammates, answering questions that aren’t directed to her specifically.

“I hope she feels really confident with us,” Salkute said. “I really like (her as a setter).”

Yelin said the next step in Wlaszczuk’s development is having her physical play catch-up to her inherent talents. Now in the position she always wanted, the challenge excites her.

“She is just learning to be a setter,” Yelin said. “To know how quick and well we switched her and converted her… she’s a hell of a learner.”

Published on September 2, 2014 at 12:05 pm