Comeback Trail
By Dan Vance
To look at Mike Morici’s face, you wouldn’t know if he was happy or sad, felt fortunate or left out. It is hard to figure out where exactly his mind lands when thinking about what has happened and what has yet to come in his IPFW volleyball career.
Either way he’s still here, plugging away everyday in effort to get back a position he once personified.
After two highly successful seasons at the starting libero (defensive specialist) position, a summertime scrimmage with the club volleyball team he coached back in his native Illinois left Morici sidelined with a torn ACL.
It left IPFW with an opening. It left Morici on the sidelines, watching his teammates return to the Final Four without him.
Volleyball became a love for Morici in grade school when he saw his sister play and was instantly attracted despite his size working against him.
“I’ve always been the smallest person on the team,” the 5’7’’ Morici said. “[People] only discouraged me when I wanted to play front row. Other than that, they saw that I was quick and that I could go after balls.”
At Carmel High School in his native Antioch, Illinois, he was the team captain as a senior while being named ESCC All-Conference and All-State Honorable Mention by the Chicago Sun Times and Chicago Tribune. A trip to the next level wasn’t easy though. After talking for a while, Ball State opted to pass on Morici, telling him that they did not recruit true liberos. It wasn’t until May of his senior year that IPFW came knocking on his door.
As a freshman in 2005, Morici was part of a big class that was expected to make a huge impact.
“I think they put a lot of pressure on the freshmen because there were so many of us starting at that time,” Morici said.
A subpar record in 2005 with a young team led IPFW to expand a little more in 2006, including bringing in transfers CJ Macias and Colin Lundeen.
“Halfway through the first semester we knew we were going to be really good. But I don’t think the Final Four popped into our heads when we got into that winning streak,” Morici said.
That winning streak he still smiles about was a school record 16 match winning streak, which took place directly after a 2-5 start. The streak led the Mastodons to a Final Four appearance. where they lost 3-0 to UCLA.
“It came out of nowhere and just clicked one day” Morici said. “It [going to the Final Four] felt like you were a professional. Reporters were everywhere, ESPN cameras were in our locker room as we were getting ready. It was unreal.”
At the end of his second season, Morici had amassed 434 digs and was on pace to break the all-time school record of 816 set by Mastodon great Jay Golsteyn.
Suddenly a fluke landing in a summertime scrimmage changed his life.
Finding out how much cartilage had been destroyed eliminated hopes of playing through the injury and IPFW was forced to turn elsewhere. They turned to freshman Matt Pliske, who helped IPFW to its first national semi-final victory.
“It was difficult to watch my team go to the championship game while I wasn’t on there,” Morici said with a reflective sadness in his eyes.
However, Morici never gave up. Along with mentoring Pliske through his struggles early as a freshman, he worked hard toward a comeback. When the 2008 season began, Morici was back in the flow- but not back in his spot.
“Since we had so many people coming back, he (Pliske) gelled really well with the team and it was like I had to start over. At that point, I was just happy to get playing time, I did not want to be forgotten.”
“The ultimate goal is to get my starting libero spot back,” he was sure to add.
Now he will go through a transition again. He will be the only returning senior in 2009 and will have to step up into a primary leadership role.
Overcoming obstacles like that is something that Mike Morici has done and points out with a smile that he is more than ready to take on again. Maybe that is happiness on his face after all.
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