Photo by: Red Box Pictures
Bajema Steadied Huskies Through Ups And Downs
December 06, 2018 | Volleyball
SEATTLE – Overlooked or counted out. Replacing seven seniors means "rebuilding." An actual losing streak and one week out of the Top-25. Unfamiliar feelings and phrases for Washington Volleyball over the past seventeen years.
But wait, what's this? "The Sweet 16." That rings a bell.
The road has been bumpy but Washington never lost sight of its destination, and the Huskies find themselves in the second week of the NCAA Tournament once again. For the sixth time in the past seven seasons, and the 12th time in the past 16 years, the Dawgs are in the Sweet 16, where they will take on No. 8-seed Penn State on Friday at 3 p.m. in a match held at Stanford's Maples Pavilion.
It has taken a full team effort for the Dawgs to reach the twenty wins plateau for the 17th year in a row, but one of the main constants for the Huskies has been the play of Kara Bajema.
The junior outside hitter's transition from one-trick pony as a sophomore into a workhorse of All-Pac-12 and All-Region caliber is one of the biggest reasons UW is still dancing.
"There's a feeling that you have when you're playing so free, and if you could go to that spot every time you would, but it's not as easy as it seems."
Bajema was thinking back on a pivotal match in Washington's season, when the Huskies snapped a five-match losing streak by winning a wild match against Arizona State, coming from way down to win a 28-26 third set, and then finding that freedom in an incredible 25-4 fourth set win.
The young Husky squad had moments like that during the five-match win streak in early November, and even in two hard-to-swallow five-set losses late in the season. Then at Creighton, in front of a packed gym of 2,500 opposing fans in the second round of NCAAs, the Huskies sustained that level for three sets in a 3-0 sweep for their first win over a Top-10 team this year.
"I was thinking after that win, if we were to be done right now I would just not be ready, so I'm really thankful that we are still able to compete," Bajema says. "I just know that it felt like none of us wanted to be done and none of us wanted to lose so when we're all on the same page with that aspect then things just start flowing and things become easier. It was just a really fun environment to play in and when you are relentless with pursuing balls and when everybody's gelling and working together you're hard to beat."
When Bajema is at her best, the Huskies are also hard to beat. After playing a supporting role in her first two years, the Lynden, Wash. native had to step into the spotlight this season, as she became a six-rotation outside hitter.
Last year it was all about the kill totals as Bajema became an offensive force late in the season. Now Bajema is often the first Husky to touch the ball as she is one of the primary passers. She needs to block, serve, attack at both pins and from the back row, and take tough swings when the Huskies are out of system and Ella May Powell needs an outlet.
"It has been challenging in the aspects of having to improve so many different skills, and when one of them isn't going well it can be easy to just get down on yourself, especially when my hitting's not going well, I think, 'Dang, what am I doing?'"
In addition to all the physical responsibilities, "There is also the leadership role I have had to take on this year," Bajema says. "I didn't really have that last year because we had seven seniors. So that's a different pressure. But I also have three, four other girls with me that are doing the same thing so it makes it a lot easier. I like to lead just more by example where others may speak up more, so we all have a different form of leadership."
Out of all the skills she has to utilize, the one that Bajema now gets the most satisfaction from is her passing.
"I've been constantly working on my passing, because freshman and sophomore year I didn't do that in games. So definitely it feels good when I have a good passing game, because a lot of wins and losses are decided in the serve-receive battle. I think that's where I keep wanting to improve."
What now looms as the key part of this Sweet 16 (or better) season is that ten-game stretch when the Dawgs went from losing five in a row to winning five in a row, pivoting in that Arizona State match. The season could have slipped away, but Bajema and the Huskies wouldn't let it.
"We weren't going to give up and be like 'Allright, we lost five, what's six, seven more?' No, we lost five, and we are going to work our butts off to get a W," she says.
No longer could the Huskies just count on a victory, after years of sitting atop the Pac-12. That required a new perspective. "Something that maybe happened last year was just that we thought we would always kind of get out of it. That's something I didn't want to have in my mind. 'Oh, we'll get out of it.' You're not just going to get out of it, you have to work yourself out of it and keep competing every single day, so I think that was a different mindset as well."
Behind the scenes, Bajema says the approach to practice each day never changed, no matter whether the Huskies were coming off a frustrating loss or a satisfying win. That willingness to work is what ultimately paid off.
"It was definitely really awful having five losses in a row, but something we knew that wasn't going to change is the way we came into practice."
Washington also had to refocus on playing to take the match away from their opponents, something that they delivered on against Creighton.
"After losing a couple, when you're in the moment of the game, it's hard not to lose focus and think, 'We just can't lose!' We tended to play not to lose instead of playing to win. So that's a really hard thing after so many losses and we just had to keep reminding the team, 'Let's play to win, let's play to win, we can't be afraid.'"
The Dawgs get to play for another very big win on Friday.
But wait, what's this? "The Sweet 16." That rings a bell.
The road has been bumpy but Washington never lost sight of its destination, and the Huskies find themselves in the second week of the NCAA Tournament once again. For the sixth time in the past seven seasons, and the 12th time in the past 16 years, the Dawgs are in the Sweet 16, where they will take on No. 8-seed Penn State on Friday at 3 p.m. in a match held at Stanford's Maples Pavilion.
It has taken a full team effort for the Dawgs to reach the twenty wins plateau for the 17th year in a row, but one of the main constants for the Huskies has been the play of Kara Bajema.
The junior outside hitter's transition from one-trick pony as a sophomore into a workhorse of All-Pac-12 and All-Region caliber is one of the biggest reasons UW is still dancing.
"There's a feeling that you have when you're playing so free, and if you could go to that spot every time you would, but it's not as easy as it seems."
Bajema was thinking back on a pivotal match in Washington's season, when the Huskies snapped a five-match losing streak by winning a wild match against Arizona State, coming from way down to win a 28-26 third set, and then finding that freedom in an incredible 25-4 fourth set win.
The young Husky squad had moments like that during the five-match win streak in early November, and even in two hard-to-swallow five-set losses late in the season. Then at Creighton, in front of a packed gym of 2,500 opposing fans in the second round of NCAAs, the Huskies sustained that level for three sets in a 3-0 sweep for their first win over a Top-10 team this year.
"I was thinking after that win, if we were to be done right now I would just not be ready, so I'm really thankful that we are still able to compete," Bajema says. "I just know that it felt like none of us wanted to be done and none of us wanted to lose so when we're all on the same page with that aspect then things just start flowing and things become easier. It was just a really fun environment to play in and when you are relentless with pursuing balls and when everybody's gelling and working together you're hard to beat."
When Bajema is at her best, the Huskies are also hard to beat. After playing a supporting role in her first two years, the Lynden, Wash. native had to step into the spotlight this season, as she became a six-rotation outside hitter.
Last year it was all about the kill totals as Bajema became an offensive force late in the season. Now Bajema is often the first Husky to touch the ball as she is one of the primary passers. She needs to block, serve, attack at both pins and from the back row, and take tough swings when the Huskies are out of system and Ella May Powell needs an outlet.
"It has been challenging in the aspects of having to improve so many different skills, and when one of them isn't going well it can be easy to just get down on yourself, especially when my hitting's not going well, I think, 'Dang, what am I doing?'"
In addition to all the physical responsibilities, "There is also the leadership role I have had to take on this year," Bajema says. "I didn't really have that last year because we had seven seniors. So that's a different pressure. But I also have three, four other girls with me that are doing the same thing so it makes it a lot easier. I like to lead just more by example where others may speak up more, so we all have a different form of leadership."
Out of all the skills she has to utilize, the one that Bajema now gets the most satisfaction from is her passing.
"I've been constantly working on my passing, because freshman and sophomore year I didn't do that in games. So definitely it feels good when I have a good passing game, because a lot of wins and losses are decided in the serve-receive battle. I think that's where I keep wanting to improve."
What now looms as the key part of this Sweet 16 (or better) season is that ten-game stretch when the Dawgs went from losing five in a row to winning five in a row, pivoting in that Arizona State match. The season could have slipped away, but Bajema and the Huskies wouldn't let it.
"We weren't going to give up and be like 'Allright, we lost five, what's six, seven more?' No, we lost five, and we are going to work our butts off to get a W," she says.
No longer could the Huskies just count on a victory, after years of sitting atop the Pac-12. That required a new perspective. "Something that maybe happened last year was just that we thought we would always kind of get out of it. That's something I didn't want to have in my mind. 'Oh, we'll get out of it.' You're not just going to get out of it, you have to work yourself out of it and keep competing every single day, so I think that was a different mindset as well."
Behind the scenes, Bajema says the approach to practice each day never changed, no matter whether the Huskies were coming off a frustrating loss or a satisfying win. That willingness to work is what ultimately paid off.
"It was definitely really awful having five losses in a row, but something we knew that wasn't going to change is the way we came into practice."
Washington also had to refocus on playing to take the match away from their opponents, something that they delivered on against Creighton.
"After losing a couple, when you're in the moment of the game, it's hard not to lose focus and think, 'We just can't lose!' We tended to play not to lose instead of playing to win. So that's a really hard thing after so many losses and we just had to keep reminding the team, 'Let's play to win, let's play to win, we can't be afraid.'"
The Dawgs get to play for another very big win on Friday.
Players Mentioned
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