MONET SOLBERG
BY THE NUMBERS
AGE 22 JERSEY NUMBER 18 CAREER HIGH IN KILLS 16 CAREER HIGH IN DIGS 16 CAREER HIGH IN ACES 2 MWC ALL-ACADEMIC SELECTIONS 1 Chuk Gawlik / Daily Aztec JUST DIGGIN’ SAN DIEGO: Monet Solberg says she’s much happier now that she’s at SDSU. Solberg is looking forward to Monday, when the Aztecs will take on her former school.
Not long ago, Monet Solberg was unhappy, unmotivated and unwanted.
After playing volleyball for two years at the College of Williamand Mary in Williamsburg, Va., she was at a loss. Her dreams had beenshattered, her life was in disarray, an injured back nagged her andher coach wanted her gone.
“I was miserable,” she said.
What Solberg did was stand up, muster whatever strength she hadleft and walked away — straight to San Diego State.
“I had thought transferring was quitting,” she said. “It ended upbeing the best thing I ever did.”
Life was not always as confusing as it was in Williamsburg.
At El Molino High School in Forestville, Calif., Solberg was anall-conference player in volleyball and was well-accomplished inbasketball and softball. She was editor of the school yearbook and athree-time scholar-athlete.
She said it came easy for her; she was the type of student who wasable to excel with little extra effort.
This would come back to haunt her.
Outof high school, Solberg was offered six full athletic scholarships.San Diego State head coach Mark Warner said he was interested inSolberg, but was unable to offer her a scholarship.
“We had talked to her prior to her going to William and Mary,” hesaid. “I might have suggested that she look at that school becauseshe’s such a good student.”
Solberg said she has wanted to be a doctor since she was4-years-old. William and Mary, she figured, would be the best placeto start her pursuit of a medical degree.
“William and Mary had the lowest caliber of volleyball, but wasthe highest academically,” she said.
Solberg quickly found out that her soft study habits in highschool had not nearly prepared her for the academic rigors ofcollege.
At one point, she found herself in unfamiliar territory — onacademic probation. Aside from her difficulties in the classroom,Solberg had problems on the court immediately.
She was involved in a car accident before graduating high school.As a result, she was unable to get into playing condition over thesummer.
“I was recruited to be a four-year starter and take control of theteam right away, but I couldn’t,” Solberg said. “I got depressed, Igot fat, my parents were 3,000 miles away and everything sort of camedown on me.”
After Solberg’s second season in Williamsburg, head coach DebbieHill had a talk with her once-prized recruit.
“The coach said, ‘You don’t belong here. Don’t even finish thesemester… you have to leave,'” Solberg said. “I freaked out. Ididn’t know what to do.
“I lost my dream.”
Evidently, this was Hill’s way of lighting a fire under Solberg,trying to make her into the player she wanted. Understandably,Solberg did not see it that way. Shortly after, she decided to giveup her scholarship to transfer to SDSU and be a walk-on.
When Solberg told Hill she would be transferring to SDSU, thecoach thought her a traitor.
“She said, ‘How can you turn your back on us after all we’ve donefor you?'” Solberg said.
Solberg did not leave immediately. She finished the semester witha 3.7 GPA. She had not done better than 2.4 in her previoussemesters.
With her back ailing, Solberg was forced to take a year off fromvolleyball. Doctors warned her that if she didn’t, she might findherself unable to walk by age 40.
Warner allowed her to walk-on, but Solberg said he did not havehigh expectations for her. She said he probably didn’t think shewould make the traveling team.
Warner may not have had high expectations for Solberg, but shebelieved in herself.
“I worked my butt off, got in shape and earned a startingposition,” she said.
Injuries forced Solberg to miss a lot of action her junior season,but going into this year, she raised the bar for herself.
“My goal this summer was to become a starter,” she said.
So far this season, Solberg has started 11 and has appeared in 15of SDSU’s 18 matches. She leads the team with 3.29 kills per game andis second in digs with 2.34 per game.
“She has a phenomenal arm swing,” Warner said. “She’s always beenable to hit the ball well, the rest of her game now is starting tocatch up.
“Her ball control is better, she’s passing the ball better, she’splaying better defense and she’s more aggressive.”
She improved her aggressiveness attacking the ball, but had toharness her emotions.
Solberg had always been a vocal player, but Warner said she neededto be calmed down at first. Both agree this used to be a problem.
“In the past it was to a fault,” Solberg said. “I was consideredtoo bossy. Now I’m not as loud without a purpose.”
Said Warner: “(We) had to think about her worrying a little moreabout herself and not everything else. (She was) a little tooconcerned about everybody else and how they were doing instead ofjust playing her game.
“She’s still vocal on the court, which we need, but she’schanneled it and focused it into a very positive situation.”
Solberg said that was exactly what she did.
“It’s become about me, no one but me,” she said. “I’m doing thisfor me. I take care of me, getting the job done. It’s not for myparents, not for the coaches, it’s for me.”
By focusing on her own play, Solberg said she contributes more tothe team.
“Everyone worries about her own thing,. That’s why things arefalling together,” she said.
Monday night, Solberg and the rest of the Aztecs will host Williamand Mary in Peterson Gym.
“I can’t even put into words how much I want to beat the livingdaylights out of them,” Solberg said.
Look out, Coach Hill.
