Hodge hits home
By Ben WalkerStaff Writer Beth Hodge used to beg her mother to play volleyball. Then the universities started begging her to play. Hodge, a 20-year-old sophomore majoring in psychology, was recruited out of Broken Arrow, Okla., by San Jose State, Fresno State and Tulsa, among others, before she decided to become an Aggie three years ago. Hodge’s first exposure to volleyball came after accompanying her mother to Wednesday-morning league games. “I always begged her to let me play, but she never would. She thought I would get hurt,” Hodge said. When she was 9, her mother placed her on a club team with 11 and 12 year olds. “I was the youngest,” Hodge said. “When I was 12, I played on the 14-and-under team. When I was 14, I played on the 17-and-under team. I was always the youngest girl on the team.” Her decision to attend Utah State resulted in first-year benefits as she made the Big West Conference’s all-freshman team in 2003 as an outside hitter. In her rookie campaign, she ranked third on the team in kills with 315. The team finished with a 18-12 (10-8) record. They had a considerably worse season in 2004 as the team finished at 9-18 (5-13). Hodge says the team should do a lot better than last year. “Last year we dealt with a lot of injuries. We had seven girls out at one time and that’s really difficult to get any kind of chemistry and flow going.” One of those seven girls was Hodge. A potential starter for last season, Hodge was forced to red shirt because of stress fractures. But this season, she’s back. “This year, nobody’s hurt – knock on wood. We’re all just here to play and everybody’s meshing really well together,” she said. She and senior Zuzana Cernianska led the team with 11 kills each in Saturday’s four-game loss to BYU. She has 114 kills on the season, including a career-high 26 against Texas Pan-American. She also recorded 15 digs in the match, another career high. Hodge has recorded nine blocks this season as well. “My favorite thing is blocking somebody just because I’m kind of short and I don’t get to do that a whole lot. So when I get to do it, its like, ‘Oh wow!'” While excelling in volleyball, Hodge hasn’t given much thought to other sports. “I did soccer when I was 5 and that was worthless,” she said. “I’m not a runner. I’m too big to dance. I’m not flexible enough to do gymnastics. I like to get out and play basketball. I’m totally retarded when it comes to it, though.” Academically, Hodge is a junior in the psychology program. “I hope to be an academic adviser at a college for athletes,” she said. Although she’s almost 1,300 miles from her Oklahoma home, Hodge said she enjoys Utah State. “It’s not hard to be away from family,” she said. “I like being independent. I miss them, but I like living on my own.” The USU defeated Weber State Tuesday. It will next face UC Santa Barbara on Thursday. The Aggies are currently riding a 5-4 record. Before defeating Weber, the Ags had lost their last four straight.-benwalker@cc.usu.edu