Alabama Volleyball Newcomer Q&A: Cidavia Hall
8/17/2016 5:51:00 PM | Volleyball
Alabama Volleyball welcomes eight newcomers to the 2016 team and all eight will have Q&A features posted on rolltide.com over the next eight days heading into the season. The final featured newcomer is junior Cidavia (CeCe) Hall from Dothan, Ala., who played the previous two seasons at Wallace State.
When did you start playing volleyball?
"I didn't really start playing until my 10th grade year. I was in the band and played basketball, those were my main focus. The volleyball coach saw me and asked if I wanted to play. I really just watched the sport at first and then started playing my junior and senior year. Basketball was my whole life so it was an adjustment going to volleyball. I loved volleyball though because it was aggressive and it was more fun for me. Basketball was starting to become more of a job."
Since you're from Dothan, did you grow up an Alabama fan?
"My dad is the biggest Alabama fan I know so there was no way I was growing up to be anything but an Alabama fan. I had never gone to a football game but I grew up watching games on TV so when I heard they were interested, it was unreal."
After two seasons at Wallace State, how did you eventually end up at Alabama?
"I had a huge turnaround my sophomore year [at Wallace State] and had a lot of interest from other schools, including Alabama. After I heard Alabama was interested, I was sold. I wanted to book the visit right away. It wasn't until after I had committed that my coach told me about a bunch of other schools in Florida, Texas, New Mexico and all over. I didn't know about them but it wouldn't have mattered to me. It was neat to know that I had a lot of schools interested in me but I still would have picked Alabama."
Was having so many schools interested at once overwhelming?
"To this day it's still extremely overwhelming. I went from barely knowing how to hit a ball to becoming one of the stars on the team, had the highest hitting percentage and most kills in the league and was a second team All-American. It all happened so fast and it's still unreal to me."
What improvements have you seen from your game in a short period of time?
"Jumping and the athletic ability has always come naturally but I've learned to be disciplined on the court. At first I was just trying to learn the game but now it's about focusing on being disciplined in my position."
What has it been like so far at Alabama?
"It's been great. It's a blessing. I expected to be somewhere but to be in this environment with these people playing this sport that I love at the school I love, a blessing is the only way to describe it."
What are your goals for your remaining years at Alabama?
"I just want to reach my highest potential and build on that potential. I want to get to the point where I'm consistent at my highest peak and I just want to build on that. For the team, I think we have the athletic ability and the skills to dominate. We have the whole package and we just have to be aggressive and go for it. I've never been more confident with a group as I am with this team."
What advice would you give to a young player who wants to play volleyball in college?
"If they want to do it, you have to be 100 percent committed. It means not just taking the time someone gives you to learn along with everybody else, you also want to do more in a way that individualizes you and helps you. You don't want to blend in. You have to be determined, ambitious and be hungry for it. If you're not, you're going to blend in with the crowd and be left behind."
