HAMPTON, Va. – The irony isn't lost on coach Pedro Gonzalez – or Mianna Armstrong: Armstrong, a blond-haired girl from rural Canada, acting as one of the star volleyball players for Hampton University, a historically-black college. On the surface, the juxtaposition might seem odd, but Armstrong feels right at home in the Home By the Sea.
“Every other school I went to (on recruiting trips) was a big school with so many students, I felt like I'd just be a number if I went there,” Armstrong, a native of Lomond, Alberta, said. “The only people I ever met at those schools were other athletes. When I came here on a recruiting trip, I went to the cafeteria and all over campus and met so many people, and everyone was so friendly.”
“I come from a small town. My graduating class (at Lomond Community School) was 10 people – people tell me, 'Oh, my class was small, too; I had 100 people' … no, I had 10 in my class, so I win.”
Armstrong was recruited by a smattering of Division II and lower-level Division I schools in Montana, Minnesota, North Dakota and Idaho, but decided to come to Hampton in large part because of the atmosphere she saw. Former Lady Pirate Alyssa Jackson played a large part in bringing Armstrong to Hampton, where she's turned into one of Gonzalez's strongest and most reliable players.
As a freshman in 2008, Armstrong was second on the team in kills with 244 – 88 of which came during Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) play as she helped the Lady Pirates earn their first MEAC Tournament berth in five years.
Her production increased this past year as a sophomore, despite an early-season ankle injury that caused her miss non-conference action. Armstrong had 173 kills and 200 digs on the season, recording a team-high nine double-doubles and leading the Lady Pirates in MEAC play with 116 kills (2.90 per set).
Her 123 digs on defense in conference play were second on the team to junior libero Ivana Suput.
“I'm not really sure what it is about conference play,” Armstrong said. “I think as the season goes on, I get more into the flow of things – especially this year, after I missed time because of my ankle. I think it also helped that I knew what my role was … I kind of flew under the radar a little at first, and as the year went on, I just got more and more comfortable.”
Not bad for a player who faced some doubts at home about her collegiate prospects.
While Armstrong – a three-time team MVP in high school – was being recruited, a local newspaper writer told her that she would never make it as an NCAA Division I volleyball player. According to the writer, Armstrong was neither strong enough nor tall enough.
Armstrong, at 5-foot-9, is taller than five of her teammates and several players she's faced throughout the MEAC and around the country.
She doesn't remember the writer's name or what paper he wrote for, but Armstrong remembered the criticism and how out-of-place it seemed. Though it doesn't dictate everything she does on the court, Armstrong isn't afraid to admit the criticism has proved to be a source of motivation.
“I wanted to prove him wrong,” Armstrong said. “It kind of bugged me how someone who really didn't know me or know about my sport was making judgments about how I'd do in college. I mean, I've been 5-9 since I was in 10th grade. That wasn't something that was going to magically change before I got to college.”
In spite of the disappointment of this past season – where the Lady Pirates (9-19, 4-6 MEAC) missed out on the MEAC Championships after losing a three-way tiebreaker with Howard and Morgan State – Armstrong likes what she sees for the future of the team. There were no seniors on this year's squad, and the depth Gonzalez has brought in means there's flexibility.
In 2008, Armstrong said, the same group of players who started were often kept in the game regardless of how things were panning out during matches. It was a simple matter of personnel, a mix of Gonzalez's first full class of recruits and players who were recruited by the late Tiny L. Laster. With Gonzalez bringing in even more of his own recruits for 2009, depth was added – as was a sense of competition.
“We didn't have that flexibility to bring people in last year,” Armstrong said. “In a lot of ways, that depth serves as motivation and it takes some of the pressure off at the same time.”
With growth, individually and with respect to the whole team, Armstrong expects big things in 2010.
“This year was frustrating, to be sure,” she said. “But I can see where we progressed as a team, both on the court and off, so I don't see any reason why we can't go out next year and improve even more. 2009 was better than 2008 for us, so for 2010, who knows?
“I definitely want us to make the (MEAC) tournament again, and I don't see why we can't win a match.”
