Whenever BYU and Utah meet in any sport, it sends waves across the state. Those waves don’t quite reach Waltrop, Germany.
When Waltrop-born Ute Lea Adolph joined Utah as a freshman in 2011, she didn’t know anything about the red and blue rivalry. Adolph was more familiar with the Revierderby: a rivalry between soccer clubs Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04. Adolph soon found the Utah equivalent to the Revierderby in the Holy War.
In her first match against BYU in 2011, Adolph was called upon to take the first serve.
“My legs were shaking,” Adolph said. “That’s when I figured out what the big deal was.”
Adolph handled the pressure of the match pretty well, delivering three service aces in a losing effort.
Before arriving at the U, Adolph was an established player in the German junior ranks. She attended Pascal-Gymnasium in Munster, Germany, about an hour’s drive from her home. Adolph helped the German national team earn a fourth place finish at the 2010 Junior European Championships. She also was a three-time runner-up at the German Junior Championships in 2007, 2009 and 2011.
“Lea was on a recruiting service. We got her through a company that helps Europeans come over [to America],” head coach Beth Launiere said. “International players bring a level of maturity. To go across the world, you have to be pretty mature.”
After watching a tape on Adolph, Launiere decided to send assistant coach Brian Doyon to Germany to watch her compete in a match for the junior German national team.
“I almost committed to Louisiana Tech University, and then Brian [Doyon] called me and came over to watch me play,” Adolph said. “They made me feel welcome, and I had a feeling that they really wanted me.”
This was also the first year Utah could use the Pac-12 as a sweetener when trying to get commits to come out to Utah, but how do you use it to your advantage when the person you’re recruiting isn’t familiar with college conferences in America?
“The lady from the recruiting service told me, ‘It’s such a tough conference,’ and, ‘It would be so great for you, like this is the highest level you can play at,’ ” Adolph said.
Another big selling point for Adolph was Utah’s mountains. Adolph had only been in the U.S. once before, and that was in rural Kansas to visit her sister, who was a high school foreign exchange student.
“Brian told me about the city, and I was allowed to go skiing,” Adolph said.
She couldn’t go skiing in Germany due to club seasons going year round. These reasons made the Utes seem like the perfect fit, so she signed her commitment letter.
In her first season at Utah, Adolph appeared in 26 matches for the Utes, including 13 starts. Launiere thinks that because Adolph faced such tough competition in Europe she was able to go straight into a Pac-12 type of competition. Adolph’s biggest issue was the language barrier. She didn’t struggle with English in general, though, as she had taken English classes since the fifth grade. The language barrier appeared on the court.
“My grammar and stuff was good,” Adolph said. “It was weird because it’s so automatic, what you say on the court, that I would say stuff in German first of all or just shut up.”
It’s no longer an issue for Adolph, who says the problem now is when she goes home and says stuff in English on the court instead of in German.
Adolph enjoyed plenty of success in her first two years and came into her junior year as the team’s starting libero. She got the year off to a great start earning a spot on the All-Tournament teams for the Utah Classic and the North Texas Invitational.
Everything changed in 2013 in a match in Corvallis against Oregon State. Adolph suffered a concussion that altered her volleyball career.
“Morgan Odale was playing left front defense, and I was playing left back defense. She reached back for the ball and punched me straight in the nose,” Adolph said.
Adolph didn’t know what had happened right away. She just thought she had received a hit to the face and that it hurt. She remained in the game, and neither the coaches nor the training staff noticed anything wrong. Then she felt a headache coming on, and a few plays later Adolph started to feel nauseous. The training staff took her off the court and diagnosed her with a concussion.
“It took her a little while to recover, but I haven’t seen any lingering issues,” Launiere said.
The concussion marked the first time Adolph had been injured.
“It was actually hard for me because I’ve never really been injured and had to sit out and couldn’t do anything,” Adolph said.
In the two weeks Adolph missed recovering she lost her starting libero spot to then true freshman Tess Sutton. Sutton got her first start in the next game against Oregon and never looked back, racking up a career high with nine digs.
“With Tess and I, we get along really well and I love that. We compete during practice, and we fight for that one spot [libero],” Adolph said. “When she’s playing and we’re in a game, I’m good. I’m supporting my teammates.”
Launiere praised Adolph’s attitude in wake of losing her starting position.
“Lea is a very positive, helpful person, and I think she’s a great teammate. Her teammates really love her,” Launiere said.
Now prepping for her fourth match against BYU, Adolph says it’s one of her favorite matches on the schedule each year, and she can’t wait to face them one last time. Adolph is hoping to get out on the court for her last match against the twelfth-ranked Cougars, but if she doesn’t get the opportunity, Adolph will be the biggest cheerleader from the sideline.
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@BenJasarevic