Photo from: www.ottawabraves.com
Adriana Skipper of Grand Prairie, Texas, is a senior setter and team captain for the Ottawa University Lady Braves Volleyball team that is coming off back to back KCAC championships and have won 38 straight KCAC conference games (including conference postseason).
Wednesday evening at Wilson Field House, Skipper and the Lady Braves won their 24th straight KCAC conference home match, making quick work of University of Saint Mary in three sets.
Quick work has been the norm for the Lady Braves during this home winning streak, as only five matches have gone past the three sets.
Despite the brief match, Skipper says, “I don’t think we played to our highest potential. I feel like we could play at a really, really high level. We let them come back a couple times and we shouldn’t have.”
Skipper, in her second season at OU after coming from Panola College, sat down with The Campus after the match to talk about her team’s comfort level playing at home, her athletic career and her plans for after college.
She mentioned that since the team doesn't practice much in Wilson Field House, “It is like a road game but we know we are home.” Skipper describes how her team is aided by the comfort that the home crowd provides in Wilson Field House.
Taking up volleyball at the age of 10, she first gained interest in the sport from seeing her older neighbor, who was in high school at the time, playing in the yard. She has played non-stop ever since.
As the leader and sparkplug of the OU Lady Braves, Skipper tells herself prior to every game, “Be great, be perfect and don’t be scared to be perfect.”
She credits her high school and junior college coaches for building her mental toughness as well as pushing her to a higher standard every single day in practice as well as off the court.
“It is a mental game,” Skipper says. “When you make a mistake, you can’t turn to your team and be mad especially if you’re the captain; it’s your job to pick everybody up.”
As an only child, Skipper treasures the bonds she has formed with teammates that playing volleyball has brought her. She also adds a “shout out to my daddy because he drove me to all my practices and was always at every single one of my games; he was a ‘volley-dad.’”
Some of Skipper’s favorite movies include “Finding Nemo,” “Finding Dory” and “Moana” in particular because she knows all the songs. Part of her pregame routine is to listen to some of her favorite artists such as Gucci Mane, Chris Brown and Cardi B.
Upon graduation this May with degrees in Secondary Education and Biology, Skipper hopes to coach college volleyball or become a veterinarian, having completed an internship with a dog breeder.
Skipper is one of the few at OU who have not yet succumbed to senioritis. She did say she would like to celebrate graduation with a seafood dinner at Red Lobster.
For now, the march continues for Skipper and the Lady Braves as they travel to McPherson College on Saturday to face a scrappy Bulldogs team.