Czech athlete leads volleyball team in third year
Three years ago, hardly able to speak English, Zuzana Cernianska came to Utah from Prague, Czech Republic, to play volleyball for Utah State University.
“It was hard,” Cernianska said. “I didn’t speak enough English. I couldn’t communicate very well. My first semester was really tough.”
She said that it was hard because everything was so different from the way it was back home, even the way volleyball was played was different.
“Everything was new,” she said. “I’m from a big city and Logan is very small for me.”
Another thing that she had to get used to living in America was “the way Americans talk to me,” she said. “Here they are always nice to you. Sometimes I need somebody to yell at me.”
Cernianska started to play volleyball when she was 8 years old because her sister was playing. Since she and her sister were always together, Cernianska said her mom said that she could try it out after her sister started.
She started playing, and then just kept on playing.
Although she loves volleyball, Cernianska said that she feels she has had to give up a lot for it.
“I’m used to it,” she said. “[But] I remember when I was high school, everybody had so much free [time] to go somewhere, but I always had volleyball.”
Cernianska has been playing for the Aggies for three years and said that this year’s team is a lot different from last year because the team had one of its strongest players, Erin Davis, graduate last year.
She also said that it is different because there are a lot of freshmen on the team and some of the key players this year, like junior Erin Graybill, didn’t play a lot last season.
“The score right now isn’t very good, but I think we’ll get up,” she said of the tough 3-7 start for Aggies this season.
This season’s team has a lot of strengths, Cernianska said, but she couldn’t name anything specific.
“I think each game is different. Last game the best was the middle, Ingrid [Roth] and Erin [Graybill].”
Because it is such a new team, Cernianska feels a lot of responsibility has fallen on her.
“It’s hard,” she said. “Because I’m a junior coach [Burt Fuller] expects more from me than from [the] freshmen. I feel like sometimes that I have to do good to keep the team up.”
Despite the added pressure, Cernianska feels that she can still “bring it” game after game, and so far this season, she has done pretty well.
During the game against UC Davis Sept. 25, she became just the fourth Utah State player to record more than 1,000 kills.
So far this season, Cernianska has recorded more than 160 kills and ranks fourth all-time at USU in kills with more than 1,000.
During last season, Cernianska was a first-team all-Big West selection after finishing the season sixth in the conference with kills per game, averaging 4.53. She was also academic all-Big West for the 2003 season.
She said that it has been very hard for her to keep her grades up and play volleyball.
Between multiple exams, early practice and travel she said she is often pressed for time.
During her freshman year she was named Co-Big West Conference Freshman of the Year.
Cernianska, who describes herself as very competitive, said to prepare for matches, she really doesn’t do anything special.
“Most of the time, I take a nap before a game,” she said. “I think about it, like what the hitters [are] doing and what is the weakest link on the passing.”
During the game Cernianska said she talks to herself in Czechoslovakian to get herself fired up.
This weekend Cernianska will lead the Aggies in California against Long Beach State and UC Irvine.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu
Zuzana Cernianska is just the fourth athlete in Utah State volleyball history to record more than 1,000 kills. She ranks fourth all-time at USU in kills. (Photo by Jessica Alexander)