Veteran Caitlin Dugan acting as Texas Tech volleyball's guiding voice
Knowing how hard Spanish classes were at Campo Verde High School in Gilbert, Ariz., Caitlin Dugan chose a different route for her language course.
Dugan, and several of her teammates, took up American Sign Language, a skill they used to sign the national anthem before their volleyball games. Dugan admitted Tuesday she knows some of the signs, but has lapsed in fluency.
Once she completes her graduate degree, Dugan said she'd like to pick it up again.
For now, she's a little busy trying to help the Texas Tech volleyball team get off to a hot start. In her fifth year playing for coach Tony Graystone, Dugan has been around long enough to know what her coach likes, wants and expects.
Veteran presence: Maddie Correa stepping into bigger leadership role for Texas Tech volleyball
A new wrinkle this year is trying to guide the slew of new faces.
"In the past we've had new people every season," Dugan said, "so our new personality, kind of dynamic of our team, so just getting used to each other. But honestly we clicked really fast in the summer. We all worked out together and we get along really well. I'm really, really excited for this season."
The season begins Friday with the Under Armour Challenge, in which Tech will play four games in three days. It's the first of back-to-back home tournaments for the Red Raiders, which Graystone said was a conscious effort.
"We're throwing a lot of volleyball at our team," Graystone said. "... When we have this many new players, we just wanted to throw them in and, to me, the best way for a team to become a team is to go through some stuff together. That's why we're doing it."
Dugan is one of five graduate seniors for Tech, although the only one to have played her entire career in Lubbock. She's even seen former teammates become her coaches.
Over the summer, Graystone hired Emily Hill and Tatum Rohme as assistant coaches. Dugan was a freshman during Hill's senior year at Tech, while Rohme was a sophomore on that 2019 team. Seeing her former teammates become her bosses, so to speak, is a new experience for Dugan.
"I have had an open mind," Dugan said. "I really respect Emily and Tatum a lot for what they did at this program, and I got to know them really well. We were very, very good friends, very close while we were teammates. So in the beginning, I just wanted to see that dynamic, but I was always open to being coached by them.
"I trust their volleyball IQ and they have a lot to teach me still. I love being coached by them. I'm really, really happy that they're here."
Is new always better?: Deion Sanders, increased competition have Texas Tech coaches amped for Big 12's latest realignment
Dugan has a role similar to Hill and Rohme, though she's still on the team. With 11 new teammates, Dugan is the veteran to whom many of them look. Graystone said that, much like fellow veteran Maddie Correa, Dugan is someone players can trust.
"Caitlin is extremely relational," Graystone said," and she likes to do things kind of behind the scenes and more one on one, but now to see her kind of take more of a team-first (approach) and get in front of the group and not be waiting for someone else to talk for her ... It's really nice to see her step into a bigger voice. We're all better for it."
Under Armour Challenge
at United Supermarkets Arena
Texas Tech's schedule
11 a.m. Friday — Houston Christian
7 p.m. Friday — Wichita State
7 p.m. Saturday — Notre Dame
2 p.m. Sunday — Abilene Christian
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Veteran Caitlin Dugan acting as a guiding voice for Texas Tech volleyball
