Bumping into success

By Travis Ball
The Collegian

LIKE A HOVERING ALIEN mother ship from another planet, the thought of life after college floats inside the mind of Alison Pitton.

“The real world is coming,” said Pitton, a senior on the Fresno State Volleyball team. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I seriously don’t.”

Although her future plans are a little foggy, the business marketing major said there are a lot of opportunities.

“There’s so much that has to do with marketing you can’t even name it on all your fingers,” Pitton said. “We’ll see where life takes me.”

For now Pitton’s life remains at Fresno State and involves being a captain to a young Bulldogs volleyball team.

Fresno State Volleyball coach Ruben Nieves said Pitton is a definite leader on the team as well as one of the most experienced players.

“Her natural form of leadership is through example, which is the strongest form of leadership,” Nieves said.

Over the last two years Pitton has developed an ability to lead verbally, but Nieves said, “She and all the other players know that your words only carry so much weight. It is your actions and the example you set that means the most.”

When it comes to her success on the court and in the classroom, Pitton believes her focus is instrumental.

“I’m always a very driven and focused person,” she said. “When I need to do something I put my whole heart and soul into it.”

Her coach agrees.

“Alison is always focused,” Nieves said. “Some athletes when they don’t succeed it’s because they don’t try hard enough. I can’t think of too many times over the last two years where that’s been the case with Alison.”

According to Pitton’s father, Vic Pitton, a competitive spirit deserves some recognition as well. “She’s a gamer,” he said. Vic Pitton said his daughter is good in practice but when you put her in games she seems to excel, and it is something she has always done.

Growing up in Elk Grove, just south of Sacramento, Pitton’s first sport was actually basketball.

“A lot of people have actually said I was better at basketball than I was at volleyball,” Pitton said. “Now it’s completely different.”

Pitton said she was recruited more for basketball than volleyball when she was in high school, but she wasn’t a fan of the running that comes with the territory of basketball.

Pitton’s father, a golf instructor and a high school basketball coach introduced her to both sports when she was younger. He said she found golf boring at that time, and she found her way to basketball and volleyball. Vic Pitton said it’s great to be able to see his daughter play a Division-I sport, but most importantly he is proud of the way she handles her academics.

Not only did Pitton earn second-team All-WAC honors in her junior season, she also earned Academic All-WAC honors for the second time.

Nieves said Pitton is both responsible and organized.

“She takes her academics seriously,” he said. “She appreciates the fact that she’s a role model. She looks at Fresno State athletics and the opportunity to participate as a privilege, not as a right. She wants to do the best she can with the privilege she’s earned.”

As an only child Pitton never experienced life as a sister, but once again it wasn’t because she didn’t try.

“I’ve always wanted a brother or a sister,” she said. “I would beg for one.”

Now in her fourth year at Fresno State and her fourth season on the volleyball team, in a sense, Pitton has become the sister she always wished she was.

“You meet so many people that you’ll know for the rest of your life,” Pitton said. “You’re like a family because you go everywhere, do everything together.”

Although she loves to shop, Pitton’s dedication to volleyball and school make it difficult at times. Her friends have become a main source of joy.

“I’ve made so many friends that I’m going to have forever,” Pitton said. “You couldn’t ask for a tighter [knit] community than here at Fresno State.”

According to Nieves, Pitton is a person who gives everyone the benefit of the doubt.

“Eventually you have to prove yourself to her, whether it is a coach or a friend. Eventually you have to prove that you deserve her respect and her friendship, but she is the kind of person that will give you the chance. She doesn’t pre-judge.”

Although Pitton sees herself as a student, teammate and friend who is focused, loyal and attentive, she also sees herself as a volleyball player with a lot of hustle. And in the sport that beat out basketball and golf for the center of attention, Pitton has a lot of passion.

“I need action,” she said. “When I’m going up for a hit and I have a solid block — two or three people up on me and I get a kill. Or when somebody is hammering a ball at me and I can dig it up, that’s what I love,” Pitton said. “The impossible plays.”

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