Sitting the bench is not always a bad thing. Sophomore Megan Heinz, starting middle blocker for the LSU volleyball team, said missing a tournament because of tendinitis in her shoulder helped her gain perspective on what the team needs to improve on.
“When you’re on the sidelines you see a lot of what goes on on the court,” Heinz said. “You see what you need to improve on, what the team needs to improve on and how big an influence you can be when you’re actually on the court. I realized I speak loudly and I have a powerful voice. People look to me a lot.”
The Houston, Texas native said being vocal helps to direct the offensive game.
Heinz made a direct impact on her first weekend back in action.
She was named to the All-Tournament team after LSU won the Mean Green Classic this weekend in her home state. Heinz averaged 3.18 kills per game and had 16 digs against North Texas.
Junior Regan Hood said she was not surprised that Heinz had a great tournament despite having been out of action.
“Megan’s a great player,” Hood said. “When she’s on the court she tries as hard as she can. She works as hard as she can until she can’t go anymore. It showed a lot for her to come off that injury and play as well as she did and really help out the team as much as she did.”
LSU coach Fran Flory said Heinz was a huge addition to the lineup this weekend.
“Megan’s a great player,” Flory said. “She has a lot of ability. Probably the rest led to her being an impact.”
Flory said she chose to keep the 6-foot-1 sophomore on the bench for the Wildcat Classic to make sure she was ready to play for this week’s Southeastern Conference opener against Arkansas.
Heinz said conference play will be tough especially with LSU being such an inexperienced team, however, she tries to focus on winning. “Everybody says we’re a young team, but you can’t think of it like that,” Heinz said. “You have to go out and play with your heart knowing we probably are the underdogs. We just think about what we need to do to win.”
Having just turned 19 in August, Heinz does not shy away from taking a leading role on the team. She said she sees it as her opportunity to help the team. Heinz credits last year senior Lauren Cuyler with teaching her how to lead.
“Last year I didn’t play very much but I learned a lot from Lauren Cuyler,” Heinz said. “She taught me a lot about volleyball and about life and getting a great education here. I learned from her how to step up and be a leader at such a young age. I knew I’d have to play this year being one of the only [middle blockers].”
Aside from improving her blocking, Heinz said her personal goal for this season is to help lead the team as far as it can go, which she hopes is to the NCAA Tournament.