Burning Ambition WSU Standout Reorders Her Life, Devotes Herself To Volleyball In A New Way

She has constructed a picket fence around her private life, mentally omitting the uncomfortable details.

But listen how Jennifer Canevari, Washington State University athlete extraordinaire, describes her metamorphic mission, and statements such as “I’m starting to get my head on straight,” and “This is the first year I’ve really tried to stay focused,” enter the conversation.

She says them as if she means them, her signature dimple hiding behind a serious look. Apparently, the how-to-succeed-in-college handbook didn’t get the same workout last season, Canevari’s sophomore year in Pullman.

And she paid the price. The most visible to the outsider? Canevari was squeezed out of this year’s team volleyball picture, literally.

Nine upperclassmen posed for the 1997 “Hit Like A Girl … If You Can” media guide cover and team poster. Yet, there was no Canevari.

“She wasn’t even on the team last spring for personal reasons,”said ninth-year Washington State coach Cindy Fredrick, whose USA Today/ AVCA sixth-ranked undefeated team plays host to No. 7 USC and No. 18 UCLA this weekend. “She was not allowed to play with the team.”

Fredrick’s declined to give details, instead offering that “There were just many things.”

Canevari, also an exceptional basketball player out of St. Mary’s High in Stockton, Calif., performed well during the Cougars’ 27-6 1996 season. The 5-foot-9 outside hitter played in 32 out of 33 matches, many as a starter. Considered one of the best back-row players on the team, Canevari was second in digs with 246. She had 182 of the team’s 1,890 kills and finished with a .186 hitting percentage.

“I think having it taken away for a little while was even more of a wake-up call,” Canevari said. “For that time in my life, I didn’t have the thing I loved most.”

However, Fredrick said she gave Canevari an option.

“She had the right and she had the opportunity to earn her way back. I told her, it was all on her plate,” the coach said.

To hear Canevari tell her story, failure, on or off the court, did not enter into the equation.

“I said to my friends (last spring), ‘I can not wait until next year because I’m going to come back on fire!”’ she said. “My friends were saying, ‘That’s great you can feel that way and that’s you’re so determined.”’

Determination, coupled with changes.

For starters, Canevari stayed in Pullman all summer. Summer school classes routinely were followed by 2-hour workouts, starting with 30 minutes on the treadmill, followed by lifting and jump training. On those quiet Palouse weekends, Canevari ran, maybe 2-3 miles a day.

And then there was the issue of housing. After living in the dorms for two years, Canevari realized “They were real bad for me.”

This year, she lives with a family in a place she described as “far off campus.” A better fit, indeed.

“During the week. I go home, I take a shower, I eat and I study. And I wake up the next morning and I go school and I go to practice,” she said.

“I don’t have much of a social life. I don’t want to,” she added.

This comes from a former homecoming queen that became one of the top 25 basketball recruits in California. The Cougars themselves tried to land her as a point guard.

But like many high school hoop and volleyball stars, Canevari said she went the volleyball route because, “I was at the top of my game. I felt in volleyball I had so much more to get better in than to just stop.”

Canevari, a general studies major with an emphasis on psychology and sociology, describes her grades as “decent.” On the court, she gives herself a “C” or “C+,” claiming there still are lots of areas where she can improve.

She’s stronger this year and is hitting more consistently (.195). Her 3.54 digs per game average is second in the Pac-10 Conference behind UCLA’s Tanisha Larkin.

“I think Jen has every quality of an athlete that people enjoy watching,” Fredrick said. “She’s not hard on the eyes. … she’s a great athlete, fun to watch. She gets digs that you wonder where that came from.”

Canevari said she’s ready to face USC and UCLA.

“I can’t wait until this weekend,” she said. “I’m already losing sleep over it. Big games like this, I live for.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos