Pirates’ Osuna digs in

Nikki Osuna is frequently swung at, occasionally dumped on, always bruised and forever scarred.

Just the way the Orange Coast College libero likes it.

“Volleyball is my life,” said Osuna, a 5-foot-3 digging, diving, passing, perpetually pumped-up defensive dynamo who has helped lead the Pirates (20-2) into the eight-team California Community College Assn. state championships today through Sunday at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton.

Osuna has 435 digs this season and needs 17 to break the OCC single-season record set by Ashlee Moon in 2006.

She has become known for her reckless play on the court which is just one of the ways she inspires and amazes her coaches and teammates.

“I call her our sparkplug,” OCC Coach Chuck Cutenese said of the redshirt sophomore who transferred to OCC before last season after starting as a freshman defensive specialist for Seattle Pacific University. “She digs a lot of balls, passes a lot of balls and just plays with a lot of heart. She’s a smart player and she does a lot of other things to try to keep the team positive and up during matches. She does more than dig and pass, which people who don’t know volleyball might not always see. She’s a cheerleader on our team, and the coach on the floor.”

Osuna takes the term “on the floor” to new, well, depths.

“She’s a phenomenal libero,” said sophomore teammate Rachel Freeno, who was hardly alone in her praise of Osuna.

“Nikki is an amazing libero,” said sophomore middle blocker Briana Fields. “When she makes a crazy dig, it’s like she is putting her heart on the line. She will sacrifice her whole body. It’s kind of scary sometimes.”

Sophomore outside hitter Poerava Gantt said Osuna’s strengths go beyond quickness and instincts honed by playing since the sixth grade, including helping Los Alamitos High win a CIF State championship in 2006.

“It’s just hard work and her love for the game,” Gantt said of what allows Osuna get to balls others could not.

Her love for the sport and her passion for competition ooze from Osuna’s words with little prompting.

“I put my heart and soul into this sport,” said Osuna, who chose volleyball over cheerleading and softball, before entering high school.

“I was playing in what might have been my last [volleyball] tournament before high school and I realized I could not imagine not playing the sport,” Osuna said. “So I chose it over cheerleading and softball. I have no regrets.”

She also has no fear. She chipped a bone in her hip diving in high school and has continually sported bruises that draw comments from those who observe them off the court.

“People see my bruises and say ‘What in the world?’ ” Osuna said. “I just say ‘That’s volleyball for you.’ ”

Volleyball was, last season, a source of more substantial pain for Osuna, both physically and mentally.

Practicing late in the summer for what would have been her debut at OCC, Osuna tore the meniscus in her right knee. What she first thought was just a sharp pain, like many others she has played through, led, this time, to season-ending surgery.

“I was at dinner with my mom when I got the call from my doctor telling me surgery was my best option,” Osuna said. “I started bawling and we had to leave dinner.”

Osuna had surgery in September, 2008 and spent last season working through a grueling rehabilitation.

“It was my first real injury,” she said. “When I took the bandages off. I started crying because of the emotion of seeing my knee so messed up. It was bloody [from three surgical incisions] and really swollen. It was scary.”

Osuna progressed to the point that she could warm up with the team during last year’s state tournament, in which the Pirates finished fourth. But that was a mixed blessing, she said.

“I can’t even explain how amazing it was to set foot back on the court with my gear on,” Osuna said. “But after we lost our last match, I started crying. [Cutenese] asked me why I was crying. I said, because it hurt so bad to not be able to go out there and play and do something for the team. I wanted to be on that court so bad. I’m a very competitive person, so losing and not being able to do anything about it makes me lose my mind.”

When it comes to defense, Osuna has single-minded focus. Some might even say she has a mind of her own.

“[Cutenese] lets me do whatever I want, within our system,” Osuna said. “But when we watch our film, I’m never in the [conventional] spot. I get burned by it a couple times, but I think I make up for that. I’m just very jumpy and I definitely trust my instincts.

“Defense is my favorite part of the game. I would love to dig people all day. I want [opposing hitters] to hit at me, because, in my mind, I see myself getting the ball up. I will throw my body on the floor for that ball. There are times when I’ll land weird and I’ll go ‘Ooh, that didn’t feel good.’ But you just have to shake it off, and the pain goes away soon enough.”

When it comes to demoralizing opponents with her defense, Osuna can never get enough.

“Getting setters’ dumps, when they push the ball over, is probably my favorite thing in the game today,” Osuna said. “Because when they do that, they are trying to test one person. They are trying to get the ball down on me. When I get it up, I’ll say ‘Easy.’ It’s just instinct, as if to say “Uh, I got this ... Try it again.”