For sophomore Maureen Reindl, the transition to college volleyball wasn't that difficult. After playing on a competitive club team--as well as her high school team--in Indiana, Reindl was ready for the challenges that a competitive Division I program brings.
In fact, Reindl almost felt a letdown in intensity level last year under former head coach Jon Wilson. The change was so significant that she has welcomed the toughness that new head coach Linda Grensing has already brought to the program this year.
"All the preseason we've gone two-a-days and we've been in the gym usually six or seven hours a day," Reindl said. "Last year we had maybe four days of preseason practice and I don't even remember going two-a-day--they didn't make an impression on me like this year."
Reindl participated in three sports during junior high, and admits that then she liked volleyball the least.
"In junior high, I played basketball, volleyball and track, but I didn't really like volleyball better than the others," Reindl said. "I wasn't necessarily better [at volleyball]. In fact, it was probably my worst sport. It was the beginning of high school when I started playing club in Indianapolis, which was an hour from my house, and driving there for practice every night. That's when I started to get serious with volleyball."
Besides the long drives to and from practices, Reindl also missed a lot of high school because her club team competed around the country. Despite all the time that volleyball occupied, Reindl's parents encouraged her commitment to volleyball.
"They were really supportive when I was practicing in Indianapolis, because that meant we had to drive there every single day and they'd have to drive me home at 11 or 12 o'clock at night," Reindl said. "It was a lot to ask for but they never said anything about it. My brother played club soccer and my sister's in a lot of sports too, so they understand the whole thing."
Reindl's commitment to volleyball began to pay off when she started searching for schools. Living in Indiana naturally drew her interest to the Big 10 schools, but Reindl was also drawn to Notre Dame.
"I had grown up in the middle of Big 10 schools and that was what everybody as a kid wanted to go to," Reindl said. "But I always wanted to go to Notre Dame. I actually wrote Duke before they ever started recruiting me. I don't think they would have if I hadn't written first.
"Then it just came down to the best academic school because Duke wasn't by far the best volleyball program I looked at, but it was the best academic school."
Last season, Reindl immediately stepped into a starting role, which was unusual for a freshman on a squad that was dominated by four powerful seniors.
"We have a ton of underclassmen," Reindl said. "That makes it hard especially to replace the four, because they were such solid players on the court, and solid personalities--it's hard to replace that. I don't think we'll really be able to tell until our first match who steps it up in which positions."
Since that foursome of Adrian Nicol, Ashley Wacholder, Tami Peterson and Briar Blach have all graduated, Duke has lost a significant amount of its experience, but Reindl expects the team to adjust to that loss.
"[Last year], our whole offense was really slow without many options," Reindl said. "Hopefully I'll be playing all around so I'll be able to contribute a lot on defense as well as offense. We're trying to incorporate the middle hitters more instead of hitting all outsides last year with me and Ashley. We're going to spread out the offense a lot more."
Reindl and fellow sophomore Kristen Campbell, who was the ACC Rookie of the Year, will try to fill in the void of leadership on this year's team. The two have different types of leadership styles, however. Campbell is a more vocal leader, while Reindl sometimes is quieter, choosing to lead by example.
"Maureen is not a real verbal type of person on the court," head coach Linda Grensing said. "She just physically does what needs to be done."
The leadership of Campbell and Reindl will be crucial to this season's young team, especially if the Blue Devils hope to continue their chain of ACC championships. The 1994 seniors led the team to four consecutive championships.
"I know Kristen and I have been trying really hard to provide leadership for the freshman, as well as Virginia [Hall]," Reindl said. ``They don't have that much time. It's pretty important to make sure that each person has to be ready to take any role."
Part of the way Reindl shows that readiness to assume roles is just by doing it.
"She's an all-around player," head coach Linda Grensing said. "She's very solid when it comes to whatever you need."
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