NSU grad questions volleyball all-star’s boot

Dear Editor,

All sports teams everywhere and at every level have been practicing rigorously in anticipation of the 2011-12 season; however, from the information out on the street, the “the ball has been dropped,” already by the leadership of the Nicholls State University women’s volleyball team. Danielle Daigle, a senior, has been dropped from the roster, putting her scholarship in jeopardy (kudos to those who fought a good fight where she was allowed to keep the scholarship).

Last December, Daigle, the team libero, was named First Team Academic All-Southland Conference maintaining over a 3-point cumulative GPA. Reading on the website of Nicholls, Daigle appeared in the top ten national dig/set rankings by the NCAA every week and the week of Sept. 13, 2010, she surpassed the national leader in dig/set averages (in other words she was ranked No. 1 nationally). At the finish of the season, she was ranked ninth in the country with a 5.61 dig/set average. Daigle was named Southland Conference Player of the Week three times last season, and set a school record by claiming her fifth career Southland Defensive Player of the Week. A Nicholls University school record was in her reach for career digs had she not been removed from the team’s roster.

Did the coaches not watch her outstanding game performances or did they not read the newspaper articles or their own university’s website? Or maybe it was that Daigle would not have excelled in the Colonels Spring Olympics’ “pillowcase races or the bobbing for apples contest” as was posted on the “Volleyblog?”

Why wasn’t Daigle recognized for her outstanding achievements of the 2010-11 season at the athletic banquet or even by the university’s athletic department?

After Ms. Daigle’s release the coach’s “Volleyblog” of February 26, posted this statement, “We all seem to finally be on the same page and it shows.” The saddest part of this statement is that “when the page is turned” to this season’s play, will the team be robbed of maybe Daigle’s best play ever and also will Daigle have been robbed the possibility of even achieving further playing at a higher level; Olympics? Professional play? I guess we will never know.

Liz L. George,

Nicholls State University Alumni