big brother’s shadow

Following in the footsteps of an older brother can often be difficult for an athlete.

Just ask San Diego State volleyball player Matt Hyden.

After watching his brother John, a two-time All American and member of last year’s Olympic team, dominate for four years at San Diego State, Matt has spent this season making a name for himself.

He has succeeded. Not only has the junior college transfer contributed in his first season as an Aztec, he leads the team in kills with nearly 400.

He admits that trying to live up to his brother’s name has been hard at times, but he said he isn’t putting a lot of pressure on himself to fulfill anyone’s expectations.

“I’m just going out there and doing the best I can do,” he said. “I’m just trying to take volleyball as far as I can.”

John agreed there’s some pressure placed on Matt but said that’s to be expected.

“Any time you follow in an older brother’s footsteps, there’s pressure,” John said. “But (Matt) is dealing with it well.”

He certainly has, as illustrated by his team season-high 39 kills at Pacific over the weekend. In fact, Matt’s statistics are improving as the season progresses. He’s the only Aztec to make at least 28 kills in a match, and he’s done it four times.

Leading SDSU in kills is nothing new to John, either. From 1992 to 1995, he led the team in kills four times. This includes an NCAA record of 56 kills in one match in 1995.

But even with those statistics to his credit, John thinks he could one day be known as the second-best hitting Hyden.

“Matt’s a big hitter out there,” he said. “I think he could become a better hitter than me with work. I worked a lot more on my passing.”

SDSU head coach Jack Henn, who coached John his entire collegiate career, said Matt also has a chance to be better than his brother defensively.

“I think potentially he’s going to be a better blocker than John,” Henn said.

John agreed.

“Matt is a lot bigger on his block than I am,” he said.

However, while both Matt and John are big hitters on offense, and both are often told they look alike on the court, few similarities exist between the two.

“Aside from their mannerisms, there aren’t any similarities between Matt and John,” Henn said. “John is a very unique individual.”

Matt said, “I hear from other people that our techniques are similar, but I don’t try to do things (John) does out there.”

One of the things that most separates the two brothers is their mental approaches to the game.

“John’s a warrior, and Matt doesn’t have that mind-set yet,” Henn said. “He still needs to understand that at such a high level that (college) is, you have to show up every day with your best game.”

John, who plays professionally in Europe and has only seen Matt play a couple of times, also said there are some things about volleyball Matt hasn’t quite grasped yet.

“Matt needs a better mental aspect of the game,” he said. “He needs to learn things like when it’s time to crush the ball for a point. He also needs to work at keeping his head in the game.”

Matt’s mental focus seems to have improved since his brother’s return to San Diego; he has played some of his best matches since John’s return.

“It’s helped me to have him (at SDSU matches),” Matt said. “He’s seen what I’ve been doing and wants to help me with certain parts of my game.”

Being in the stands to watch each other is about the closest the brothers have been to being on the same court together. After graduating from Rancho Bernardo High School in 1993, Matt went to Palomar Junior College for two years while John finished his career as an Aztec.

“I’ve always missed playing with (John) by a year or two,” Matt said. “I was on junior varsity when he was on varsity in high school. Then I just missed him when I came to San Diego State.

“I’d like to play on the same team as him one day, possibly overseas. It’d be both an interesting and fun experience.”

“I believe there’s a chance we’ll play together overseas one day,” John added. “Matt’s just got to take it step by step.”

Those steps include continuing to make a name for himself at SDSU, helping a young and improving team to get better next season and building off what has become a very good season personally.