Youthful volleyball team has local ties

Amidst a season of growth and improvement the Oregon State University volleyball team is also developing a youth movement.

The team is loaded with eight freshmen, a total of 12 underclassmen and will return all players but lone senior outside hitter Dre Shaw.

Helping the Beavers in their quest to become among the elite in the Pac-12 are two local players: redshirt freshmen Laura Schaudt and Tayla Woods.

Schaudt, an outside hitter from Philomath High School, and Woods, a setter from Santiam Christian High School, both gave up their first love of basketball to focus on volleyball.

"It was always basketball that was the plan; I had been playing basketball for so long so I thought my potential to grow isn't as great as when I play volleyball," Woods said.

Schaudt, a three-sport athlete at Philomath High School, didn't begin playing volleyball until her junior year.

"It all happened really fast, I didn't know I was going to play volleyball. I thought I was going to play basketball at Oregon State," Schaudt said. "Then volleyball came into the picture and OSU offered me."

Both players revel in being able to play so close to home.

"I think it's cool because my high school coaches who put so much work in to me, without them I wouldn't even be playing here, they get to come watch me," Woods said.

"I have a lot of support from people from Philomath and my parents go to the games a lot," Schaudt said.

Schaudt and Woods each used the 2010 season as a learning experience as both redshirted.  

"It definitely helped me, I learned how to play volleyball," Schaudt said. "I learned all the skills, even though redshirting is hard and not really fun, it definitely helped me in the long run."

"It gives you a different point of view when you sit out a whole season and watch the game," Woods said.

The Beavers have six conference wins — already more than the conference win total from the last two years combined (five) — and both Schaudt and Woods are hopeful the program can continue the upward trend.

"It's exciting because its showing our program is getting better and having so many returners next year, it's going to be even better next year," Woods said.

"It's really great to be a part of it, its hard coming in and seeing all the frustrations of losing," Schaudt said. "It just makes it so much more worth it this year to be a growing program and coming back up."

As the youth movement continues for the squad, both Schaudt and Woods are hopeful they can be a part of the team that sets a new standard for the program.

"I hope by the time we're seniors, we have established a really good program and Oregon State is known for being a good volleyball team," Schaudt said.

Scott Campbell, sports writer

sports@dailybarometer.com