News: McQuaid's Steve O`Dell headed to UCLA
September 19, 2011courtesy of Rochester D&C
McQuaid senior Steve O'Dell will take after his brothers and join a college volleyball power in the fall. The difference is that the 2010 All-Greater Rochester Player of the Year went in a different direction with his selection.
O'Dell, the youngest of five brothers, gave a verbal commitment to accept a full scholarship to UCLA last week. The Bruins have dominated the sport, winning 19 national titles since 1970.
"My visit there was pretty awesome," said O'Dell, who made the official trip to Southern California on Oct. 16. "I think it was the volleyball program and the West Coast and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation that sold me. If you want to proceed with a really good career after college, it's a great place to be."
The 6-foot-5, 180-pound setter, who leads the Knights in assists and aces, was able to spend time with a familiar face on campus. He spent the first night with his brother Dan, who is an assistant coach on the UCLA women's team, before getting to know his future teammates and meeting with coaches. He plans on officially signing next week.
"Moving out west is a little easier knowing you have family there and Steve is one of the most adaptable kids I've ever coached," said McQuaid coach Christopher Parks. "He's very selfless in the fact he'll do whatever the team needs him to do and is arguably the most versatile player to come out of Rochester and western New York. You could see from the first time he used to come to watch his older brothers play in the gym that volleyball is in the O'Dell blood. As gifted as he is, he works just as hard as anybody I know."
Steve, 17, is the youngest of the O'Dell boys but could be the most talented. Three of his brothers played at Penn State and the other at Springfield, so he felt a little bit of pressure to head to State College, but part of it was his own doing. When attending the Final Four to watch his brother Dan play in 2002, he proclaimed on a nationally televised broadcast on ESPN2 that he would be a Nittany Lion one day.
"He was in the stands all weekend so the announcers did a little impromptu interview with him during the finals and he told everybody that one day he was going to be setting for Penn State," laughed John O'Dell. "He'd warm up with the team and sit on the bench when he could. Stevie grew up on the Penn State sidelines."
"I used to have sweatshirts, sweatpants, pretty much the whole Penn State outfit," said Steve. "But my brothers were really letting me make my own decision and they know UCLA is a great place."
O'Dell's final Section V match tonight has more storylines than a Dan Brown novel. The team standing between the undefeated Knights (18-0) and a second straight Class A crown tonight is Fairport (15-5),coached by John. Parks has coached all five O'Dell brothers at McQuaid and John and was a varsity assistant with him on the Knights' 2004 and 2005 sectional championship teams.
"It definitely makes the match way more intense," Steve said. "I really want to beat him. He's taught me a lot so I'm sure he tells the team my tendencies and what to look for. Hopefully at family parties I could bring it up and jokingly give him a hard time."
"When I graduated from Penn State, Steve was 8 so we didn't grow up together and coaching him was the thing that kept me in his life," said John O'Dell, 31. "There might be a couple of tears because for both of us it's going to be a moving on."
The Knights knocked the Red Raiders out of the playoffs in the quarterfinals last year and John joked that his parents have a clear favorite in the matchup.
"For sure, my parents are going to be rooting for McQuaid," he said. "Steve is the baby of the family and a lot younger than me. But slowly but surely they'll be turning into Fairport fans."
