Born to volley

Lizaiha Garcia was born to be a volleyball player. It's in her genes. Garcia's parents, Howard and Lizzette, are both natives of Puerto Rica; her father was a professional volleyball player on the Puerto Rican national team. Howard eventually moved to the United States to finish his playing career and to begin a career in coaching.

"I grew up with volleyball since I was a baby," Garcia said. "I started on a team when I was 10 years old. I traveled with my dad wherever he would go to coach."

Since she was a young girl, Garcia has been taught the game of volleyball, and has developed a passion for it, which led her to Buffalo. Originally from Dayton, Ohio, Garcia attended Beavercreek High School where she was a four-year starter and three-time team captain.

In addition to playing on her high school team, Garcia played on a Dayton area club team, the Dayton Juniors, which was coached by her father. During her seven years on the team, the Juniors made it to national competitions four straight years and finished fifth overall nationally in 2003. Her father Howard is still the director of the Dayton Juniors.

Garcia knew she wanted to move away from Dayton and had scholarship offers to play volleyball at Iona, Wichita State and James Madison. However, after a visit to the Buffalo campus, she knew it was the best atmosphere for her.

"When I came on my visit to Buffalo I fell in love with the girls," Garcia said. "They were really accepting and I wanted to get away from home."

Upon arriving for her freshman season at Buffalo in 2004, she made an immediate impact on the court. She was by far the team's best newcomer. She finished the season with 3.88 digs a game, which ranks third all-time in school history.

Currently a junior, Garcia has had to become a leader on a Bulls' team that has struggled the past few seasons, and is looking to steadily improve with second year coach Jim Lodes. Garcia, one of the Bulls' best defenders, knows she must become a leader on a team with mostly freshmen and sophomores.

"Lizaiha has been committed to becoming a better leader," said coach Jim Lodes to BuffaloBulls.com. "We will rely on her to be the glue that keeps us in system offensively as well as become the focal point of our defense."

Despite making a big splash on the team as a freshman, Garcia still had room to improve as a player, something she uses to drive her to work harder. The Bulls have not enjoyed much recent success as a team and its season has been up and down. After the team won ten matches in a row earlier in the season, the Bulls have recently lost 12 of their last 15 matches, and are only three weeks away from the beginning of the Mid-American Conference tournament.

"I still think I'm not as good as I'm going to get," Garcia said. "I'm not there yet, but I want to be."

Garcia leads the normal life allotted to a university athlete. She rises at 5:45 a.m. and lifts weights before her 8 a.m. class. Once she has gone through her day of classes, she goes to practice for three hours. When finished, around 7 p.m., she goes home to do homework and goes to bed.

Despite the lack of free time, Garcia and her teammates can find time to hang out on weekends and go out to have a little fun.

"I hang out with my boyfriend and the girls from the team," Garcia said. "It's usually just Saturday nights and then Sundays we rest."

Garcia is currently a communication major, though that has changed a couple of times since coming to Buffalo. After school, Garcia would love to continue her volleyball career as she plans on playing for the Puerto Rican national team during the summer after she graduates. However, Garcia does not plan to let her education go to waste, as she will be enrolled in graduate school not long after her undergraduate career ends.

As for her career as a Buffalo volleyball player, Garcia knows her time might be short. While she is hoping to be red-shirted so she can have another year of eligibility, she will continue her career somewhere. Puerto Rico's weather might be a little nicer than Buffalo's in December, after all.