When senior outside hitter Jessica Frederick departed her hometown of Tucson, Arizona to chase her volleyball dreams at Portland State nearly four years ago, she knew that her life was about to radically change. What she didn’t know was, despite drastic differences between the overly green landscape of Oregon and the dry desert of Arizona and the 1500 miles separating her from her family and friends, she would quickly find happiness at Portland State.
Although Frederick has found a home in Portland State and has excelled on the volleyball court, she almost traveled down a much different path. Most would agree that Frederick is a natural on the volleyball court, but due to her other athletic passions she actually didn’t start playing in an organized fashion until she joined a club team during her junior year in high school.
Throughout high school, the athletic and driven Frederick found herself wearing countless hats in the athletic arena. She played the most demanding position on the diamond as a catcher for her school’s softball team and center for the basketball team. But in the end she decided that volleyball was best suited to her competitive nature.
”What other sport is there that you get to hit a ball at someone on purpose? What other sport can you aim for people? It’s not like I’m mean or anything, that’s just the way that I play,” said Frederick. “I am very competitive and I have such a competitive nature that I just decided that volleyball was the right fit for me.”
Besides finding her groove on the court the past couple of seasons, which is evident in her two-conference player of the week awards and spot on the Big Sky All-Conference team last season, Frederick has also found a best friend and soul-mate off the court.
Fellow senior outside hitter Jessica Brodie is not only Frederick’s counterpart when they pull on their Portland State uniforms and battle with the Big Sky’s best, but she also has the honorable distinction of being her best friend and roommate.
”Within my first week of being here I met Jessica Brodie, who everyone should know is my absolute best friend. She and I just clicked right away, so this experience definitely wouldn’t have been what it was without her. “
Besides sharing a passion for the game of volleyball and an apartment, the two go as far as to claim that they may also share a brain, or at least have some telepathy between each other.
”We have tons of good times together,” said Brodie. “It seems like we think exactly the same with everything. For example, we always wear the same clothes without noticing it and since we have all of the same classes one of our teachers always thinks it is bizarre that we are wearing the same clothes and both of our names are Jessica. I guess it’s because we are on the same wavelength.”
Their friendship spills over into their play. When they hit the floor they have confidence and faith in one another’s abilities, making them one of the deadliest outside-hitter tandems in the conference.
”The two Jessicas have practically been connected at the hip since the second practice of their freshman year,” said head coach Jeff Mozzochi. “They have all kinds of inside jokes and ways to keep each other loose, so it has been a blessing and a curse at times. They obviously provide a lot of energy for the team as individuals and as a combo. The downside is that sometimes it is too much, and during their freshman year we had to get them to mellow out a little. It’s just high energy, high octane all the time with them.”
Another dimension of their unique friendship is that Brodie gave her best friend arguably one of the best gifts she could ever ask for by actually introducing Frederick to her future husband. Frederick’s husband Travis Frederick, who is currently stationed in Iraq as a member of the U.S. Army, attended high school with Brodie. At a local fair in Brodie’s hometown of Puyallup, Washington a couple of years ago she introduced her high school friend to her teammate. From that point on, the two began dating and tied the knot on June 10, 2006.
”My situation is great because coming from another state I was able to fit in right away and have a lot of special people to hang out with,” said Frederick.
So far, Frederick has experienced quite a bit in her three-plus years as a Viking. She has found great company in Brodie, someone that she hopes to spend the rest of her life with in her husband and success on the volleyball court with the support and guidance of her family. There is only one dream that she has yet to fulfill, which is finally being crowned conference champions.
”With all of the good things she has done up to this point, I would imagine that her best moment as a player is this tournament that hasn’t happened yet,” said Mozzochi. “We have quite a bit of volleyball left to play this season and some things that we hope to accomplish, and Jessica Frederick will play a big part in our successes.”