Camaioni a developing force at outside hitter
Dave Lomonico
Issue date: 12/11/07 Section: Sports
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Sports Editor
Her nervous laugh shows she still just a freshman, but little else about Nina Camaioni, Loyola's star volleyball player, would suggest she's anything but a seasoned veteran. Her work ethic, court awareness and knowledge of the game are unrivaled for a player straight out of high school, her strong outside hitting is perhaps the best in the conference and her calm demeanor exudes and inspires confidence.
"Not a lot of freshmen could have come in and accomplished what she's done," Loyola head coach Kristina Hernandez said.
Freshman? Not a chance. She's a complete offensive player. Her 441 kills from the outside hitter position led a team of veteran players on the best Loyola squad in over a decade. She can play defense. She finished second on the squad with 520 digs. And she can serve, too. She recorded 47 aces, which also happens to lead the team. Freshman? These are a senior's numbers.
No freshman could dominate a game like Camaioni did against Marist back on Sept. 23 when she recorded a school record 36 digs to go along with 18 kills. No freshman could consistently put up 15 kills a game. No freshman could cause the opposition to game plan around her. And no freshman could lead the Greyhounds to a 22-win season -- their most since 1992 -- and a No. 3 seed in the MAAC Tournament, just one year after finishing with 10 victories. The Hounds may have lost in the MAAC semifinials to Fairfield back on Nov. 18, but next year, this team could make a serious run at the upper echelon of the MAAC.
And it's thanks to ... a Freshman? Her teammates couldn't even believe it.
"In the preseason, I was shocked at how instantly she picked up the offense," sophomore Karlee Woodward, the starting middle hitter, said. "She already knew all that coach was talking about - she knew all the plays."
The drive for perfection
Hernandez laughs when she hears how Camaioni says she needs to work on her consistency, considers herself a little weak on the block and too short for an outside hitter.
"She's so self critical," Hernandez said. "Sometimes she says things, and I have to tell her, 'No, you're fine.' She's always trying to find something she's doing wrong. Last weekend, she didn't she hit the ball so well, and she came in on Monday and said, 'You know, I need to work on my contact.'"
Camaioni is her own worst critic, and it's because she has a relentless desire to be the best. When she misses a block, she's in the gym the next day studying it, practicing it, and ultimately mastering it so it won't happen again. She shows up to practice before anyone else, and she's a firm believer in that old mantra: practice makes perfect.
"She's very intense, and she wants to get better all the time," said her head coach at Williamstown High School in New Jersey, Chris Sheppard. "She's going to push herself constantly. As good as she is, she's also the hardest working player in the gym everyday."
Early in the season, before she burst onto the scene, Camaioni was averaging 12 to 13 kills a game, a number she and her coach felt could go up. By the time Loyola took on St. Peter's on Sept. 1, Camaioni stepped up her game in practice and came out honed and determined. She racked up a then-career-high 17 assists and hasn't stopped the onslaught since.
"She's taken on a leadership role, and she's getting a little more vocal," Woodward said. "I've seen her grow up a lot already."
However, her drive for perfection can sometimes negatively affect her game.
Against Siena on Oct. 20, a match the Greyhounds lost 3-0, Camaioni didn't play particularly well as she made several errors against a tough Saints team. Hernandez noticed her phenom hitter was flustered.
"Sometimes she thinks about all the things she should be doing rather than just playing," Hernandez said. "I had to tell her to chill out. I said, 'It's OK, you're going to make mistakes, this is a game of errors.'"
To say the hard work has paid off would not only be cliché, it would be an understatement. You don't become a four-time New Jersey Player of the Year at the high school level and a four-time MAAC Rookie of the Week on pure natural ability, though she has plenty of that. There's focus, there's mental preparation, there's on-court and off-court demeanor that must be monitored. All of it is important, and Camaioni knows it. Just don't expect her to say it.
Deflecting the praise
The most intense competitor on the court is also the most humble, which seems like a paradox. Her coaches will tell you all about her drive and desire. Her sister, Jess, a senior who plays volleyball for Robert Morris, will tell you about her natural ability and savvy. Camaioni shrugs it off. Frankly, she's afraid of alienating her teammates.
"I think during the season, it's a time to play for the team," Camaioni said. "Whatever you get individually is great, but during the season it's the team. When I got Rookie of the Week, it's just a whole new thing to be recognized at the college level, but at the same time, I always take the approach of, 'Hey, this is what I do.'"
She laughs a little, and then looks away. Still a freshman, still a little nervous about her abilities.
It was a tenuous start for Camaioni, despite being a starter from Day One. The Greyhounds already had a glut of outside hitters, and before the season started the coach put the job up for grabs. Camaioni proved she wasn't just some flash in the pan, yet Hernandez noticed her tentativeness. Camaioni admitted to feeling a bit awkward about taking a job from a seasoned veteran.
"I had to sit her down and say, 'I brought you in here for a reason, don't be afraid to step on peoples toes,'" Hernandez said.
Camaioni's work ethic, and ultimately her success on the court, earned the respect of her teammates. She's developing as a leader, talking more on the court and it helps that she's one of the warmest individuals you'll ever meet.
"She's a positive leader, and I think that's why her teammates are drawn to her," said her sister Jess. "She has high expectations for herself and her team, but she's not bossy. She's reassuring; she keeps their heads up, and she won't insult her teammates. People look up to her for that - I look up to her for that."
Camaioni is a true teammate, and her personality is a reflection of the team itself, where selfish play is feigned for the common desire to win. Camaioni says there are no individual leaders on the team, but rather a group of strong-willed, single-minded players who respect and feed off each other. Loyola volleyball is about camaraderie. Camaioni fit right in.
"It's a blessing, and I know that this program is right for me," Camaioni said. "It's just such a privilege to be on the team, with the girls we all get along. I know it's the right fit. Everything just feels good."
Camaioni doesn't laugh. She means every bit of what she says.
Following in her sister's footsteps
If you didn't know better, you'd think Camaioni had been playing this game since elementary school. And you'd be right. Fifth grade to be exact. That's when Jess started playing, and because the younger sibling naturally wanted to emulate her big sister, who is three years older, she started in fifth grade, too.
Then Jess went to high school at Williamstown, where she started playing club volleyball in addition to starring on the school's varsity. It seemed to be working fairly well for Jess, so Nina followed suit. Sure, the younger Camaioni tried other sports like basketball and even had aspirations of playing in the WNBA, but she said the running was too hard in basketball. Volleyball came naturally, she was good at it, there wasn't much running, and besides, Jess played volleyball. That made a big difference.
"I kind of opened the doors for her and gave her an idea of where to take her game," Jess said. "She followed in my footsteps, but now, I think she's stepped over me. She's a better volleyball player than I am."
By the time Nina enrolled at Williamstown, she had already been playing volleyball year round, and just like at Loyola, Nina started from the outset. She impressed Sheppard the same way she would impress Hernandez four years later.
Jess was a senior, a four-year veteran, but the age difference was hardly a factor. Nina already had a solid grasp of the game, and the two sisters were so glad to be playing together that Jess dropped her hitting partner of three years and replaced her with Nina.
"It was a lot of fun in high school - it was the only year we played together," Jess said. "We had a good chemistry. We were on the same page in terms of volleyball, and we kind of carried each other."
After Jess graduated and left for Robert Morris, Nina had already established herself as one of the best players in South Jersey. As a sophomore, she was listed on PrepVolleyball.com's watch list, piquing the interest of Hernandez at Loyola. But Camaioni wasn't thinking about college just yet; there were state championships to be won in high school.
Rising through the ranks; taking Williamstown by storm
Sheppard recalls the very match that Camaioni grew from a good player into an exceptional one. It was her sophomore year in a state quarterfinal match against Demarest High School, a volleyball force that hadn't lost a playoff game in five years en route to four straight state championships. The match came down to the deciding game, and Sheppard already knew who had to touch the ball if Williamstown had any chance.
"We decided we weren't going to spread the ball around, we were getting Nina the ball," Sheppard said. "I'm thinking, 'Who's going to stop her?' She absolutely crushed the ball, and we won the game."
Thus Nina was on her way to such fancy titles as All-America, First-team All State and Gatorade Player of the Year. She led Williamstown to four conference titles, and in her final year, the coveted state championship of New Jersey. In Camaioni's final high school match, in the state championship against West Morris Central, she went for 26 kills in two games to lead Williamstown to victory.
"At the highest level, in the most important match of her career, she had one of her best matches ever," Sheppard said. "It really says something about her."
The state championship is a source of pride for Sheppard, and he has Camaioni to thank. He watched his young star grow and develop into a bone fide Division I college player in four years.
The two have a close relationship; Nina still calls her coach to talk about volleyball, and Sheppard has seen her play a couple of times at Loyola.
"She did a lot for the school, and she did a lot for me," Sheppard said. "She's playing at a D-I school, and I appreciate she's still able to find time to keep in contact with her high school coach."
Off to Baltimore
New Jersey - especially South Jersey - isn't known for its volleyball prowess, and because of it Camaioni received moderate interest at the college ranks. That didn't stop Rutgers from going after her, which is where she may have ended up if not for Hernandez' volleyball camp.
"I don't think [Loyola] was at the top of her list because she hadn't been here," Hernandez said. "But in the summer of her junior year, she came to my camp, and she was sold after that."
Camaioni instantly fell in love with Loyola - the size, the people, the distance (just two hours away from mom and dad), but especially Hernandez and the improving volleyball program.
It made the coach's job easy; she barely had to do any recruiting. The school spoke for itself.
"Loyola was one of the few colleges where it actually fit together," Camaioni said. "You just get that feeling. It's a great community, and there's so much to do here. It just felt right. I can't wait to actually start experiencing some things out of volleyball because volleyball is strictly my fun right now."
Camaioni laughs, and you can tell she's enjoying herself. She's just a freshman, but already she fits right in.
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