Column: Singing, dancing winner Jennifer Petrie leads Toreros volleyball to soaring heightsUSD roared from No. 25 to 2 and currently stands third in record-setting season as NCAA Tournament opens
BY BRYCE MILLERCOLUMNIST
DEC. 1, 2022, The San Diego Union-Tribune
USD volleyball coach Jennifer Petrie, whose team is a No. 2 seed in this week’s NCAA Tournament, looks on during practice Monday at Jenny Craig Pavilion.(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)The best coach in San Diego goes by Jen, terrorizes her Division I-fit players in pickleball at age 52, wades into rounds of carpool karaoke during van rides to matches and dances during locker room celebrations.
Sometimes, she talks to outside hitter and West Coast Conference player of the year Katie Lukes about hair and nails. One day, she hustled to pick up WCC first-teamer Leyla Blackwell after a fender-bender.
She’s available. She’s engaged. She’s part mentor, part mother.
More than anything, Jennifer Petrie is a winner. Again and again. Year after year. She’s taken the University of San Diego to the NCAA Tournament in all but two of her 24 seasons, reaching the Sweet 16 four times.
As the puzzle pieces change, the results hardly ever do.
“When I think of Jen, I think of not only an incredible coach and leader, but she treats all of us like her 18 other daughters,” Blackwell said of Petrie, who has two daughters of her own. “She’s one of the most incredible female role models out there. Lots of coaches have an open-door policy, but with Jen it’s so real.
“It’s rare in NCAA sports to connect with your coach on that kind of personal level.”
The Toreros stand No. 3 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. They’re 27-1, knocked off top-10s Pittsburgh and Ohio State near the start of the season and are riding a sizzling 24-match winning streak.
They open the most anticipated NCAA Tournament in storied program history at 7:30 p.m. Thursday against Northern Colorado at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Powerhouse programs with massive enrollments like Penn State (88,914), Texas (52,384), Wisconsin (47,932) and Nebraska (49,560) find themselves sharing the stage with a sun-soaked interloper with 8,000-or-so students and a “Why not us?” mental furnace.
A better question for the Toreros: Why us? Petrie, for starters.
When asked if USD can wade through the bluebloods and win it all, she answered without tapping the brakes.
“Yes, absolutely,” said Petrie, who starred at Mt. Carmel High School. “This year more than any, based on the success we’ve had, the competition we’ve played against, going undefeated in conference, we have a lot of things to draw on that can give us confidence.
“It would be so validating for them to achieve at the highest level and know you don’t have to be in one of the Power 5s to find that success and play at that level.”
It’s one thing to know you’re good enough. It’s another to feel bonds so powerful that stomachs turn at the thought of letting down the people to the left and right.
In the case of Petrie, multiply that five-fold.
“We have lofty goals and it comes straight from Jen,” said Blackwell, who played at La Jolla High School. “We want to make her proud.”
In an approach that seems as wise as it is simple, Petrie begins by treating people right and being relentlessly accessible and works out from there.
“I feel like having children myself changed my perspective on coaching,” Petrie said. “Everyone is somebody’s daughter. I think, how would I want my daughter treated in a program?”
The dividends?
“As soon as athletes know you have their best interest at heart and that you care about them, you can push them through walls,” she said. “They’ll do anything for you, because they don’t want to let you down or disappoint you.
“You can let them know flaws, strengths, roles on team. If they know what the intention is behind it and it comes from a place of caring, it keeps everyone invested and they know how important they are to the team’s success.”
The empathy ends at pickleball, though.
“I was scared to be her partner because I wasn’t as good as she is,” Lukes said of Petrie, a two-time Colonial Athletic Conference player of the year at William & Mary. “She was trying to coach me up. I said, you need a better partner. I’m not playing up to your level.”
Blackwell backed up the story.
“As soon as Jen rolled up, she had this fire in her eyes,” she said, with a laugh. “I was on the court below her. I remember saying, we can’t move up to Jen’s court. We can’t play her. I don’t want to be beat by them.”
Petrie in no way soft-shoed the impression.
“They should be terrified, because I finally found something I can compete at,” said Petrie, adding a laugh of her own. “When you’re an athlete and you love competition, you get to a certain point when you’re like, I can’t play indoor volleyball anymore. It’s too hard on my body. You crave that competition.”
Chalk it up as just another connection and another example that breaking down walls builds something stronger and more lasting.
Petrie sees the bigger, deeper picture.
“When we’re in the gym, it’s all business,” Lukes said. “But she cares about more than just volleyball. She cares about us. She’s always there for a check in.
“Her demeanor makes her so special.”
And those dance moves?
“She’s still got it,” Lukes said.
Players say they draw from Petrie’s calm and poise during potentially stressful moments. There’s no frustration, no exasperation, no panic. The coach claims there’s no reason to dwell on past points when time can be spent on points to come.
Another laugh.
“It’s kind of like watching a stewardess,” Petrie said. “If she doesn’t think the plane is going to go down, I guess we’re going to be OK.”
What a flight it’s been.
Link:
www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sports-columnists/story/2022-12-01/usd-volleyball-toreros-jennifer-petrie-ncaa-tournament
