Wake Forest Athletics
Gold Rush Feature: Solid in the Middle
10/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 25, 2010
This article was originally published in the Oct. 16 edition of Gold Rush.
By Sam Walker
Contrary to the marketing phrase, what happens in Vegas, doesn't always stay in Vegas.
Sophomore middle blocker Andrea Beck was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, and lived there until the age of 7. But she didn't stay and ended up in Winston-Salem when her parents, John and Lynn Beck, moved after her father secured a teaching position at the North Carolina School of the Arts. That put her close to Wake Forest University, and Wake Forest's volleyball coaches took notice early. Early in her second fall season, Beck is now making everybody take notice.
Beck grew up in a musical family. Her mother taught music theory for 12 years at UNLV, and her father teaches percussion at the N.C. School of the Arts. Both her parents play in the symphonies in Winston-Salem and Greensboro. Beck plays the oboe, and although she isn't pursuing a music degree, she plays in the Wake Forest orchestra. And although she loves music, her passion is volleyball.
As a high school athlete at nearby Mount Tabor, Beck earned 11 varsity letters -- four in volleyball, three in swimming, three in outdoor track and one in indoor track. In volleyball, she was named the North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year in 2008 and earned Prepvolleyball.com All-American honors as well. In 2008, she was also named the Forsyth County High School Volleyball Player of the Year. There was no shortage of accolades.
"We knew about her going into her freshman year at Mount Tabor, and we just kind of kept our eye on her," said Coach Heather Kahl-Holmes of Wake Forest. "She had come to our team camps and our all-skills camps so we had our eye on her for a while. Athletically, she was always someone we enjoyed watching, but when she made the jump from her sophomore year to her junior year and showed us the level she can play at, I think that's when things got real serious."
"It was kind of surprising that I ended up at Wake Forest because earlier in my high school career I thought I would end up somewhere in the Northeast since that is where my parents are from," Beck said. "But during the whole recruiting process, I got to know the team and coaches really well, and I just loved the people here, so it was a perfect fit. I was here all the time watching matches even before I was a player here."
As a freshman, Beck made 29 starts and played in all 31 matches. She finished third on the team with 257 kills and was second on the team with a .254 hitting percentage. She was first on the team with 17 solo blocks and was second on the team with 96 total blocks, and had 11 double-digit kill performances on the year. Accolades continued for Beck as she was named to the ACC Volleyball All-Academic Team and the ACC Honor Roll. To top it all off, she was named Wake Forest Volleyball's Rookie of the Year, an award voted on by her teammates and coaches.
"I was nervous coming in because everybody was so good," Beck said of her freshman season. "When you're used to being one of the best players on your team in high school and all of a sudden everybody is just as good, I had to get used to the speed of the game. I remember my first match being nervous before the game."
Now a sophomore, Beck is helping the Deacon volleyball team post big wins and get off to a solid start. Beck recently helped the Demon Deacons earn victories over Charlotte, Clemson and Georgia Tech by tallying 35 kills, a .392 hitting percentage and 13 total blocks in the three matches. She tied a career-high with 15 kills on a season-high 33 attempts on the road at Clemson and helped guide Wake Forest to a 3-0 victory. The victory snapped a seven-match losing streak to Clemson and also marked the first time Wake has won at Clemson since 2004.
In the same weekend against Georgia Tech, Beck had 12 kills and hit a career-best .524. She tied a career-high with six block assists, and her hitting percentage helped the Demon Deacons hit a season-high .350 as a team. That victory ended a six-match losing streak to the Yellow Jackets, and it was only the third time Wake has defeated Georgia Tech in the last 21 matches. It was also the first win for the Deacons in Atlanta since 1999. Following that stellar weekend, Beck was the ACC Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 20-26.
"That was well deserved, especially to get two wins on the road like that and to perform as steadily as she did, so she earned it," Kahl-Holmes said. "I don't know if it is necessarily called "in the zone," but she just had that moment when it all clicked and was aggressive but very controlled with what she was doing. But what was nice was you sensed its was coming because of the way she practices."
"I think my confidence is a lot higher and that comes from out team confidence being a lot higher," Beck said. "Just the fact the whole team was playing well that weekend helped me be successful. That was big motivator for us having not won in Clemson for a long time, and Georgia Tech is a great team, but we remember stuff from past seasons. The ACC rivalries are pretty big. It was a huge honor (to be named ACC Player of the Week), and I actually found out from my parents, who texted me after practice and then my coaches told me a few hours later."
More recently, Beck posted a career high with 18 kills in a five-set loss to Maryland. However, she led the team with five blocks and contributed six kills in a sweep of ACC foe Boston College to help the team rebound.
"I think we've been really motivated after being ranked 10th in the (ACC) preseason poll," Beck said. "That kind of fired us up because we knew we could do better than that, and the whole season we've been trying to improve and do better. We have four seniors on the team who have been playing for a long time so we know this season we have an opportunity to do well in the ACC. One of our goals for a long time is to go to the NCAA tournament and we want to get ourselves in position to do that."
Beck has shown the ability to be very consistent, and the Demon Deacons overall have been more consistent. The team has lost back-to-back matches just once this year and had won four of their last five entering the Oct. 6 match against UNC. It's Beck's consistent play at a high level that may just help propel this year's Deacons to that goal of post-season competition.
"She is playing with more confidence than I've seen," Kahl-Holmes said. `I think having a year under her belt and being able to play her freshman year really jump started her into this season. She played in every match last year so it's one of those things where she knew what her role would be.
"Her goal is to play back row eventually, and she has the ability to do it so its just a matter of getting her the reps. Right now we're pretty taken care of in the back court, so we don't need her now, but it doesn't mean she won't have that opportunity."
