Senior outside hitter Manieka Golden continues to be a force at the net for the Colonels’ volleyball team this season. Golden led the team with 229 kills, 736 attempts and a 2.44 kills/set average with the Colonels last year.
In her first year as a Colonel, Golden posted 35 blocks and hit a season-best .367 in a 3-0 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Nov. 8.
Golden played in all 27 matchups last year and recorded 13 matches with double-digit kills, including two matches with 15 kills and three matches with 14 kills.
Prior to Nicholls, Golden attended Galveston College where she received Honorable Mention All-Conference honors as a freshman and named First Team All-Region as a sophomore.
Golden was named to two all-tournament teams and was once named tournament MVP. She was nominated for All-America in 2007 and was a member of the All-Academic Team as a sophomore.
Golden took time out before practice to tell us a little more about herself and volleyball.
Q: What is your most embarrassing moment?
A: “During practice before a game, we were running to the other side, and I tripped at the line.”
Q: What is your most memorable moment in volleyball?
A: “I have two, and they are kind of the same. One is when I was going into the 10th grade, playing in a summer volleyball league. We were warming up hitting, and I went to hit out of the middle. As I went up to hit the ball, this girl walks right across the court, the ball hits her right in the face, and she ends up bloodying her nose. Two, I was at a home game at my junior college, and I hit a girl in the face pretty hard. The whole audience went crazy! So now, that’s been my goal every time I go to play: to hit someone in the face (laughs).”
Q: Is there anything you do before a game to get pumped up?
A: “I like to sit by myself and listen to my iPod. Usually it’s so loud everyone else can hear what I’m listening to.”
Q: What do you do after a missed serve or spike to get yourself back on track?
A:”Ha, well, I tend to get frustrated easily when that happens, but I’ve been working on refocusing and moving on. Now if I get blocked, I either think ‘well it’s going to happen’ and try to think of what I can do next time to not let it happen, or I get mad and hit it harder next time!”
Q: What made you want to play volleyball?
A:”I love sports in general; I grew up around them my entire life. I’ve played just about everything and just enjoyed this one a little bit more. I did anything to get me out of running cross country in high school for basketball!”
Q: What has been your favorite team to play on and why?
A: “This is actually the first team I’ve played on that has gotten along so well. I like it. There are some great people and friends on this team.”
Q: What are you looking to do after volleyball?
A: “I plan on graduating in the fall of 2010. Then probably going back home in Texas and going to Masseuse school or Dental school.”
Q: What do you do to occupy yourself on long road trips?
A: “I listen to my iPod. Lately, I have been sleeping, so I guess sleep. Sometimes I watch a movie with the team.
