Return of the specialist

Senior libero has stepped in as a major contributor

By Shannon Miliken
The Collegian

Fresno State women’s volleyball player Cassie Gilford has recently stepped in as the team’s libero.

She was moved into the spot after her roommate and teammate, Cheryl Selenak, was injured. Gilford and Selenak said they alternated as libero during last season, but Selenak had been playing all the games this season until her injury.

Gilford said she feels she is under a lot of pressure in the libero position, which is a recently added position allowing a defensive specialist to stay in the game for all 6 rotations.

Assistant coach Fernanda Habiger has faith in Gilford’s ability as libero. Habiger said Gilford is a dependable defense player and one of the more mature players.

“She’s good at getting high balls well with her hands,” Habiger said. “She has a certain maturity as the oldest one on the team.

She’s different that way as far as maturity goes, especially the way she talks.”

Habiger said Gilford shows an interest in all sports, which probably goes back to Gilford’s athletic childhood. In elementary and middle school, Gilford played volleyball, basketball, soccer and softball. She first played volleyball in 6th grade.

“I’d always been really athletic and in sports,” Gilford said. “Sixth grade was the first time they had organized teams.”

In high school, Gilford focused her attention on playing volleyball and softball, because those were the sports she enjoyed the most. By the time of her graduation from Prospect High School of Saratoga in 2002, Gilford had decided to pursue volleyball.

“Once I graduated high school, I realized I hated softball too,” Gilford said. “Everyone wanted me to play softball in college, but I wasn’t having it.”

Following high school, Gilford spent two years as defensive specialist on the volleyball team at San Jose City College, before coming to Fresno State for its physical therapy program. The first year Gilford was at Fresno State, she didn’t play volleyball. Her roommates were on the equestrian team, so she joined them to get a work out and be on a team.

Toward the end of the spring 2005 semester, Gilford said she heard there was a new coaching staff, so she called head coach Ruben Nieves to ask if she could try out.

Gilford remembers Nieves calling her back on the day she won a blue ribbon at an equestrian competition. She went in and ran drills for Nieves and he asked her to come back in the fall.

Double-days practices in the fall were Gilford’s tryout for the 2005-2006 season, as well as her conditioning to get ready to play again. Gilford is now in her second year on the Fresno State volleyball team, and she is scheduled to graduate in May 2007, so this is her last year of eligibility.

As for after graduation, Gilford said she has a Plan A and a Plan B. Plan A is graduate school for physical therapy here at Fresno State, after she receives her degree in Interdisciplinary Health and Rehabilitation Sciences with an emphasis in pre-Physical Therapy.

Plan B is culinary school, to learn to do catering or be a food critic. Gilford said the deciding factor will be whether she gets in to the graduate physical therapy program, since there are a limited number of spots available.

When she is not at school or playing volleyball, Gilford enjoys wakeboarding, talking to her friends and cooking.

Teammates and assistant coach Habiger describe Gilford as a very talkative person.

“What person doesn’t like to talk?” Gilford said.

Cooking became an interest of hers right after high school, when she began watching the Food Network.

“Cooking is very therapeutic for me,” Gilford said. “I make a mean shrimp scampi primavera.”

Selenak said Gilford is a really good cook. “She cooks me dinner sometimes,” Selenak said. “My favorite thing she’s made me is chicken picatta. She made it all pretty, with nice presentation.”

Should Gilford choose to pursue her culinary career, she wants to either be a food critic, “because you get to eat all the food,” or move to Italy to study cooking and play volleyball. If she chooses to go to graduate school, Gilford wants to become an outpatient physical therapist. Whatever she decides to do, she has a plan for each route.

“She’s really driven. She knows what she wants to do with her life, and she’s on her way to do it,” Selenak said.

Gilford has a younger brother, Jacob Gilford, 20, who attends San Jose State. Gilford’s parents, John and Candace Gilford, reside in San Jose, at the same house Cassie Gilford grew up in. Gilford is looking forward to her future of cooking or physical therapy, but she is also excited about the rest of her final volleyball season.

“Anything can happen on any given day,” Gilford said.

Comment on this story in the Sports forum >>