By Craig Morgan, thesundevils.com Writer
Halle Harker wasn't certain she wanted to play college volleyball as she pondered her future at Liberty High School in Bakersfield, California.
"There were a few small schools that contacted me but I didn't know where I wanted to go, or even what I was looking for in a college," Harker said. "I knew I loved the idea of being an athlete and competing, but playing in college had a lot to do with coaches convincing me, 'you need to play at the next level.'"
Harker wasn't heavily recruited. Utah, Arizona and Pacific were the other notable schools that showed some interest, but former Sun Devils coach Jason Watson ran into a friend at a tournament in Las Vegas, who knew Watson was looking for a libero.
"He told Jason, 'she's way back on Court 120, so Jason walked all the way back to Court 120 where I was and I guess he was impressed," Harker said, laughing. "We contacted each other over the phone and literally a week later, he offered me a scholarship, I took a visit and it all happened so fast from there."
Harker started at libero in each of ASU's 34 matches as a freshman in 2014. Four years later, she is set to mark her mark in program lore. Entering Friday's against No. 13 UCLA, she is in third place with 1,703. Sydney Donahue (2004-07) is the all-time leader with 2,385, and Stephanie Preach (2010-2013) is second at 2,010.
"I expect a lot from her a lot from her and she needs to do a lot of things because she's a libero," Sun Devils first-year coach Sanja Tomasevic said. "She can help hitters know where to look, she keeps us calm when we can start to panic, she's very disciplined, and she's not afraid of the ball and I think that's from growing up with two brothers and a father who was a football coach. She's doesn't mind if the ball whacks her in the face."
Tomasevic leans on Harker for top-tier defense, on-court coaching and communication, but she cites another one of Harker's assets in helping the Sun Devils move past last season's 12-20 aberration.
"She was the one when everything started falling apart last season -- and we really fell apart last season -- that was the cornerstone of that new culture new development," Tomasevic said. "I told them last spring, 'this might seem like me just giving you another task but you guys have to decide what is going to be your legacy when you leave here.' She is somebody that really took it to heart."
Harker insists it was a group effort that brought the Sun Devils together, but it was Harker who hosted a team meeting at her house last spring.
"We all had a different idea of what makes a perfect team and we all had a chance to talk and decide the one thing we felt was most critical," Harker said. "If every single one of us had not been there, it might not have worked, but we had total buy-in."
The seeds of the team's slogan, FIGHT, were planted that night. The individual letters of the acronym stand for: Family, Integrity, Gratitude, Humility and Training. For Harker, the slogan was a product of her three previous years. Her freshman year was a building block. In her sophomore season, the team started 15-0 and was a legitimate contender for the national championship before senior outside hitter Macey Gardner went down with a season-ending ACL tear. Last season, the team lost its identity in posting its first losing season since 2011.
"It's definitely been a crazy experience," Harker said.
ASU (10-6) is still finding its way back. A five-set loss to No. 7 Washington on Sept. 24 was a glimpse of what the Sun Devils could be, but a three-set loss to Stanford on Wednesday was a setback.
"We're not 30 percent of what we could be and should be," Tomasevic said, "but it was so big for me that our girls saw what we were capable of in that loss to Washington when we won the first two sets."
Harker is using that loss, the Stanford loss and every other lesson from her ASU experience to push her team forward.
"There's no way I'd be able to be the leader I am today without the different hardships I've faced along the way," she said. "There was just a lot trust and honestly, a lot faith in God to know that everything that's happened was supposed to happen, and it happened for a reason.
"Now that I'm in this moment with this awesome new coaching staff and even having Macey on staff, all of us are confident again. We know we're capable of being a really good team and we are good enough to hang with all these teams. It's just a matter of working hard and putting it all together."
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Halle Harker wasn't certain she wanted to play college volleyball as she pondered her future at Liberty High School in Bakersfield, California.
"There were a few small schools that contacted me but I didn't know where I wanted to go, or even what I was looking for in a college," Harker said. "I knew I loved the idea of being an athlete and competing, but playing in college had a lot to do with coaches convincing me, 'you need to play at the next level.'"
Harker wasn't heavily recruited. Utah, Arizona and Pacific were the other notable schools that showed some interest, but former Sun Devils coach Jason Watson ran into a friend at a tournament in Las Vegas, who knew Watson was looking for a libero.
"He told Jason, 'she's way back on Court 120, so Jason walked all the way back to Court 120 where I was and I guess he was impressed," Harker said, laughing. "We contacted each other over the phone and literally a week later, he offered me a scholarship, I took a visit and it all happened so fast from there."
Harker started at libero in each of ASU's 34 matches as a freshman in 2014. Four years later, she is set to mark her mark in program lore. Entering Friday's against No. 13 UCLA, she is in third place with 1,703. Sydney Donahue (2004-07) is the all-time leader with 2,385, and Stephanie Preach (2010-2013) is second at 2,010.
"I expect a lot from her a lot from her and she needs to do a lot of things because she's a libero," Sun Devils first-year coach Sanja Tomasevic said. "She can help hitters know where to look, she keeps us calm when we can start to panic, she's very disciplined, and she's not afraid of the ball and I think that's from growing up with two brothers and a father who was a football coach. She's doesn't mind if the ball whacks her in the face."
Tomasevic leans on Harker for top-tier defense, on-court coaching and communication, but she cites another one of Harker's assets in helping the Sun Devils move past last season's 12-20 aberration.
"She was the one when everything started falling apart last season -- and we really fell apart last season -- that was the cornerstone of that new culture new development," Tomasevic said. "I told them last spring, 'this might seem like me just giving you another task but you guys have to decide what is going to be your legacy when you leave here.' She is somebody that really took it to heart."
Harker insists it was a group effort that brought the Sun Devils together, but it was Harker who hosted a team meeting at her house last spring.
"We all had a different idea of what makes a perfect team and we all had a chance to talk and decide the one thing we felt was most critical," Harker said. "If every single one of us had not been there, it might not have worked, but we had total buy-in."
The seeds of the team's slogan, FIGHT, were planted that night. The individual letters of the acronym stand for: Family, Integrity, Gratitude, Humility and Training. For Harker, the slogan was a product of her three previous years. Her freshman year was a building block. In her sophomore season, the team started 15-0 and was a legitimate contender for the national championship before senior outside hitter Macey Gardner went down with a season-ending ACL tear. Last season, the team lost its identity in posting its first losing season since 2011.
"It's definitely been a crazy experience," Harker said.
ASU (10-6) is still finding its way back. A five-set loss to No. 7 Washington on Sept. 24 was a glimpse of what the Sun Devils could be, but a three-set loss to Stanford on Wednesday was a setback.
"We're not 30 percent of what we could be and should be," Tomasevic said, "but it was so big for me that our girls saw what we were capable of in that loss to Washington when we won the first two sets."
Harker is using that loss, the Stanford loss and every other lesson from her ASU experience to push her team forward.
"There's no way I'd be able to be the leader I am today without the different hardships I've faced along the way," she said. "There was just a lot trust and honestly, a lot faith in God to know that everything that's happened was supposed to happen, and it happened for a reason.
"Now that I'm in this moment with this awesome new coaching staff and even having Macey on staff, all of us are confident again. We know we're capable of being a really good team and we are good enough to hang with all these teams. It's just a matter of working hard and putting it all together."
Follow Craig Morgan on Twitter