Volleyball's 25: Nicole McCray
Sunday, August 17, 2008 | Volleyball
By: Sean Cartell
UF Communications
Editor's Note: This is the 13th of a 25-part daily series on GatorZone.com honoring the great players in Florida volleyball history (in no particular rank or order) leading up to the start of the 25th season since Gator volleyball was reinstated as a varsity sport prior to the 1984 campaign.
It's funny how a few years can make all the difference in the world. Former Florida volleyball player Nicole McCray (1998-02) knows that feeling all too well. From a 14-year-old freshman that nobody thought belonged on her high school volleyball team to a dominant middle blocker who opponents hated to face, McCray's journey to become one of the best players in Florida volleyball history is a story in perseverance.
Growing up in Longview, Texas, it wasn't easy for McCray to fit in on Pine Tree High School's volleyball team. After all, McCray was the only freshman on the team and the squad's only African-American member.
According to an article by Monique Walker in the Florida Alligator, “McCray would have to get past several teammates who did not want her to succeed. The encounters were never face-to-face and the whispers were always behind her back. McCray never heard the name calling, she just heard the rumors. It was enough.”
“It got frustrating at times and I cried,” McCray said in a Sept. 9, 1999 article in the Alligator. “My mom just said that this will make you stronger. I decided I was just going to play and not worry about what they thought about me.”
One of McCray's biggest supporters was head coach Brenda Jeter, who called McCray “the best volleyball player in the 26-year history of the high school program.”
McCray understood some of the background behind the hostility that was directed at McCray, but thought her elite athletic ability also played a factor.
“Her race and her ability were issues,” Jeter told the Alligator. “But I really think they were jealous of her ability. Her skill level was so far above them.”
McCray's mother, Darlene, agreed and wouldn't allow her daughter to let the attitudes of her teammates affect her play on the court or in other aspects of her life.
“You can become stronger by other people's weaknesses,” Darlene McCray told her daughter, as quoted by the Alligator. “When you work hard and do well, a lot of people don't like it, and they will try to pull you down. Don't let them. It will make her stronger. It made me stronger.”
McCray came from an athletic family, as both of her parents played collegiate basketball. Darlene played at Panola College, while her father played at UNC-Asheville.
It's a good thing McCray stuck with it. She earned first-team all-state honors and was twice voted her district's Most Valuable Player. She was a two-time member of the Texas All-Star Team and was one of 12 players selected for the 1997 USA Youth National Team that played in Brazil. McCray also was a member of the 1998 USA Junior National Team.
McCray helped her club team to the playoffs in four consecutive seasons, including two national title runs. She also played basketball and competed in track and field. She was a three-time all-district performer in basketball and an all-region high-jumper in track and field. She was inducted into her school's Hall of Fame for maintaining a 3.0 grade point average or better for all four years and for her athletic accomplishments.
McCray was forced to red-shirt her freshman season after suffering a torn rotator cuff in her right shoulder the summer before beginning her collegiate career. She served as a practice player with the Gators that season before having surgery in December to repair her shoulder.
“She's going to be limited for a while,” Wise told the Florida Alligator in an Aug. 13, 1998 article. “It's hard enough to come in as a freshman, and to get behind that way.”
McCray would be counted on to be a key player on the team's 1999 squad as a red-shirt freshman, and Wise knew that keeping McCray, along with teammate Heather Wright, healthy would be critical to the Gators' success.
“For this team to get down to the Final Four, they need to stay healthy, play well in December and have luck on their side,” Wise told Alligator writer Tim Walters. “We have control of to of those three.”
McCray made her presence known in her first-ever match. She recorded 11 kills, 10 digs and nine blocks to help the Gators knock off No. 1 Penn State at the National Association of Collegiate Women's Athletics Administrators Tournament in Lincoln, Neb.
In a home performance against Iowa the next weekend, McCray struggled before coming on big to record six blocks and hit .722 to help the Gators to a sweep of Western Michigan.
“In typical freshman fashion, Nicole had two very different matches,” Wise told Dave Reardon of the Gainesville Sun in a Sept. 5, 1999 article. “I didn't say a thing to her after the Iowa match. I knew with her work-ethic, she'd want to come back and play well. She came back and blocked some balls. That's what we needed her to do.”
The Gators went undefeated in their Southeastern Conference slate that season and advanced to the NCAA Regional Final before falling to Pacific on its home court in Stockton, Calif.
McCray was a second-team All-SEC selection that season, recording double-digit kills in 12 matches. She also led the squad in blocks in 11 matches, playing through a left Achilles strain.
In 2000, McCray's sophomore season, Wise set the team's theme as “We've beaten the best and now we want to be the best.” She knew that for in order for the team to be able to live up to that billing that McCray would have to play an important role.
McCray had surgery the previous April to repair her Achilles tendon and was geared up for the upcoming season.
McCray did not disappoint that season, being named the SEC Player of the Year, a first-team All-SEC selection and an SEC Academic Honor Roll recipient. She was one of the nation's top 20 blockers for the majority of the season and finished fifth in the league with 1.36 blocks per game. She led Florida in blocks in 15 matches and was third on the team with 20 double-digit kill matches. McCray also was second in the league with a .384 hitting efficiency and was third with 0.47 aces per game.
Heading into her junior season, Wise was confident that McCray had overcome the plethora of injuries that had plagued her career and would be ready to lead the team in 2001.
“Nicole was really set back with her ankle injury,” Wise said in the outlook section of the team's 2001 media guide. “But she was here the entire summer and is in the best shape of her life. If we can keep Nicole healthy, she has the ability to really dominate.”
Dominate she did.
McCray played in each of the team's 30 matches her junior season and was a first-team All-SEC Selection. She was named to the NCAA Tournament All-Region Team and also the SEC Tournament Team. McCray was a Volleyball Magazine honorable mention All-America selection and an AVCA All-South Region selection.
McCray was third on the team with 2.58 kills per game and second on the team with 1.21 blocks per game. She also was fourth on the team in digs with 2.11 scoops per game, playing in each of the team's 97 games that campaign.
She led the 2001 squad in total blocks (149) and tied for the team lead in block solos (20). She earned Florida's 12th Academic-All America honor by being named to the AVCA Second Team.
That summer, McCray finished her degree and headed into her final season of eligibility more confident in both her athletic and academic abilities.
“I think things will be easier this season because it's my fifth year and I've finished all my undergraduate courses,” McCray told Lindsey Irwin of Gator Bait. “Things are more calm and less stressful than in the past and now I'm able to focus more on volleyball.”
Wise agreed, saying that McCray – the team's lone senior in 2002 – had worked hard to develop a great all-around game that would lead UF that season.
“She's one of our better servers, she's one of our best passers and she's a great blocker and hitter,” Wise said in the outlook section of the team's 2002 media guide. “Nicole is your consummate all-around player and, as a fifth-year senior with her experience and the passion with which she plays, there isn't a coach in the country who wouldn't love to have a Nicole McCray on their court.”
The Gators swept through the SEC season with an undefeated conference record and entered the NCAA Tournament with just two losses.
Senior Day came against Kentucky, but McCray wasn't as nostalgic as a player would normally be. She knew she had helped lead the Gators to an outstanding season that would result in the right to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
“We're pretty much expecting to come back here,” McCray told Brandon Zimmerman of the Gainesville Sun in a Nov. 18, 2002 article. “Never did I look at it as my last home game. We're starting to peak. We're starting to play our best volleyball of the season.”
The Gators defeated in-state foes UCF and USF in the tournament's first two rounds – matching up against a pair of former Gators coaching both teams in Meg Fitzgerald-Colado (UCF) and Claire Roach (USF). They defeated Temple and Washington State, also at home, to advance to the program's sixth Final Four.
McCray finished the final season of her career as a second-team AVCA All-America selection and a member of the AVCA All-East Region Team. She was a first-team All-SEC selection and an SEC Tournament Team member. She became the first Gator in school history to record more than 1,000 kills and 450 blocks in her career. She finished second all-time on UF's all-time list for career blocks with 529 and fifth in career kills with 1,274. She ranked eighth in the country in hitting percentage her senior season with a .402 clip.
Wonder what those high school teammates who doubted McCray were thinking then?
“I don't think I would be as strong as I am now,” McCray told the Alligator. “I would still let what people say affect me, and I can't let that happen. Now, it's not even an issue.”
| From the Vault |
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| Nicole McCray's 1998 Player Profile Questionnaire |
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| I came to UF because: Of the coaching staff, the team, the academics, the campus and the program. |
| The most inspirational person to me is: My mom because of the way she cares for the family and how strong-willed and supportive she is in all of my decisions. |
| If I couldn't play volleyball, I would: Be in the band playing my flute. |
| I picked UF over: Texas, UCLA, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Florida State. |
| In five years, I will be doing: I might be finishing college (if I go 5 years) hopefully getting on my feet with a good job. |
| My career goal is: To play pro or be on the national team. If that fails, I would like to go into sports medicine or neonatal nursing. |
| I will never: Settle for less than the best, whether its sports or academics. |
END OF REPORT
