Smrek claims NCAA MVP honours

By Bernie Puchalski - January 5, 2022

In the span of less than a year, Anna Smrek went from being a spectator to the MVP of the NCAA Division 1 women’s volleyball championship.

“If I look back to January, it definitely wasn’t something that I could have predicted for myself,” the 18-year-old Welland Notre Dame graduate said. “I mainly went there to jumpstart my training because I wasn’t eligible to compete.”

The 6-foot-9 player headed to the University of Wisconsin in January 2021 but wasn’t eligible to play in the 2020 fall season which had been moved to the spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic

“Not being eligible to play was a little bit different but it helped me with my transition a little bit more because I could focus on developing and getting to know my team instead of having competition on my plate right away,” said the former Niagara Rapids and Defensa Volleyball Club travel player.

Smrek had a front row seat as Wisconsin made it to the NCAA Final Four in the spring of 2021 and lost in the semifinals. The squad resumed summer training in July followed by the preseason in August. University of Wisconsin photo

“At that time, I wasn’t starting and I wasn’t for a good bit of the season,” Smrek said.

When middle Danielle Hart tore her SCL at practice, Smrek took Hart’s position for a few games before she too suffered a knee injury. Although it wasn’t as serious as Hart’s, it kept her out of the lineup and she was replaced in the middle by another player on the Wisconsin roster.

It was then that Smrek was moved to right side.

“I took that on at practice and all of a sudden I was thrown into games at that position,” she said. “Over time, it started to become my position and my spot on the court.”

She shared the position with teammate Jade Demps.

“By the end of the season, we were kind of flip flopping where she was playing back row and I was playing all kinds of front row,” she said. “There was a lot of experimenting and different rotations and that’s how it ended up where I was on the court.”

The journey ended with a MVP trophy and a national championship in late December when fourth-seeded Wisconsin defeated 10th-seeded Nebraska 3-2 (22-25, 31-29, 25-23, 23-25 and 15-12).

“I didn’t think it would happen to me. I had a few really good games but we had so many other amazing players and seniors that were playing on the court,” Smrek said. “Even on other teams, there were All-Americans and First Team All-Americans and I never thought they would give that award to me.”

Smrek has a team-high 14 kills in the final to power Wisconsin to the program’s first national final.

“For all of us, when it first happened, it didn’t feel real.”

What made it even more surreal was that the Badgers actually won twice.

“When we should have won, Nebraska challenged it and we had to replay the entire point,” she said. “We thought we had won and we all ran out on the court but we had to back up. That was a little crazy.”

Following a long and intense rally, Wisconsin finally scored the winning point and everyone rushed out on the court.

“In the moment, it was ‘We just did that and made program history’ and for a few days it didn’t feel real,” she said. “Now it has kind of sunk in when everyone has gone back home.”

Smrek was pleased with how her game progressed at Wisconsin, especially her confidence level.

“As I got to play more games and got into the flow of playing a new position, I got that confidence and I could play loose. Playing was a lot more fun because I knew my teammates trusted me and had confidence in me. I had to get that out of myself early on and that made me who I was my the end of the season.”

Her adjustments to being a NCAA student/athlete also went well as she worked through all the prerequisites on her way to majoring in kinesiology.

“It has its challenges when exam time comes because there is a lot of cramming, studying and balancing your time between different classes, but we went to study hall and had help from academic advisors just to make sure that everyone stays on top of their schooling,” she said. “As long as I felt that I was getting done what I needed to do on time, it honestly went pretty smoothly.”

Training through the pandemic also went smoothly and no games were cancelled because of COVID.

“Everyone wanted to play volleyball this season and no one wanted games cancelled so we all did what we needed to do to be able to do that.”

Smrek returned home Dec. 23 and will return to Wisconsin Jan. 19 to begin training for the 2022 fall season.

“For me, I have to keep looking forward and doing what I need to do in the gym to get better for myself and my team.”