Like many volleyball players, as an adolescent Jamion Hartley never imagined he would prefer volleyball’s float serves over basketball’s jump shots.
As a youth, Hartley dominated the hardwood and brushed off advances from current teammate Larry Wrather’s father Edward, volleyball coach at North Chicago.
“I was always like, ‘No, I’m a basketball player,’” Hartley said while laughing.
And indeed he was.
Hartley’s prowess on the basketball court was not unknown to people in the area. He was even looked at and scouted by Wisconsin.
Through the power of persuasion, Hartley finally caved and began playing volleyball in eighth grade, if nothing else to keep himself in shape for basketball and keep him out of trouble. But something unexpected happened: fervor sparked.
“I just ended up loving it,” Hartley said. “By my sophomore year I wanted to play nothing but volleyball.”
Even years later, his eyes still light up saying those words.
Hartley attributes the adoration for the game to the people that he got to play with and meet, and a dwindling interest for his former passion.
“I was one of those kids that practiced in the snow,” Hartley said. “I really wanted to make it, but I think it burned me out at an early age. And I just loved the [volleyball] guys, I loved being around a different group of guys from my area.”
While Hartley’s zeal for volleyball was nearly instantaneous, it took a little longer for his parents to warm-up to him leaving basketball behind.
“I was definitely being tugged both ways, my parents thought I could have made it in basketball,” Hartley said. “They were telling me to do both, but I couldn’t with all of the club volleyball I was playing.”
Hartley’s coach echoed his parents’ sentiments. Hartley remained on the basketball team’s roster even though he never tried out or expressed an interest to play.
“It kind of sucked seeing my parents wanting me to play another sport,” Hartley said. “But after a while they started coming to my matches and seeing the opportunities volleyball could give me and started to realize volleyball was something they could support.”
Hartley didn’t catch the attention of schools until after he played for the U.S. Junior Olympic Volleyball team his junior year of high school.
“It gave me a lot of confidence,” Hartley said. “It gave me the confidence that I made the right decision to go with volleyball, and the confidence to take my game to an entirely different level.”
He ultimately chose Ball State for the family atmosphere that has become a tradition from the days of Don Shondell as its coach.
“Ball State just felt like home,” Hartley said. “I visited a few other schools, and Ball State just felt right, just the way it should feel.
“There have been some tough times in my five years here, but I still think I made the right decision.”
The right side outside hitter redshirted his freshman year because of the depth of Ball State’s then-nationally ranked team.
After a year honing his game, Hartley teased everyone with his talent level. In his tenth collegiate start, Hartley recorded an astounding 30 kills against Lewis, which ranks him tied for second for most kills in a match in Ball State’s rally scoring era history — unbeknownst to him.
He continued a stretch of recording double-digit kills at a torrid pace, registering them in 10 of his first 14 collegiate matches.
Just like everyone else, Hartley showed he is human and his hot streak eventually cooled. It would take him 71 more matches to get his 20th 10-kill match.
The seemingly effortless climbs above the net to bring ferocious spikes down now only came sporadicly.
With his production in dormancy, and fellow senior Greg Herceg showing powerful swings of his own, Hartley found himself starting his final season on the bench.
“It was really frustrating,” Hartley said. “Obviously I always want to play, but as long as my team’s winning that’s all that really matters in the end.”
For the first eight games of the season, Hartley was able to take solace in the fact that his team was winning. Ball State jumped out to an 8-0 record, and was the last undefeated team in the nation and was on the cusp of being nationally ranked for the first time in two years.
Hartley tried to help the team anyway he could.
“I tried to play really hard in practice,” Hartley said. “If I can compete at my highest level, I can show the guys a good attacker, and that’s what they’re going to see in the games.”
His help extends to everyone on the team varies in definition. Whether its telling fellow right side Marcin Niemczewski, “It’s all right man, you’re a freshman, you’re going to have rough days, I had rough days too,” or recruiting Jon Clawson to the team.
By his personality and experience, Hartley has assumed a team leader role.
“I kind of figured out my role on the team: just be there for everyone,” Hartley said. “I want to help everybody that comes to me, whether it’s in practice or for personal reasons.
“I think the guys know they can come to me for anything.
In an effort to get more offense on the court, and subsequently snap a five-match losing streak, coach Joel Walton made the lineup change to get Hartley in the starting lineup against Sacred Heart on Saturday. Hartley entered on the right side and Herceg, who is third in the nation in kills per set, to the left.
Hartley didn’t disappoint.
In his second start of the season, Hartley had a match-high 12 kills and was that spark for all three sets in Ball State’s sweep.
After the match, Walton walked over to his family on the court. The first thing he said to them was, “How about Jamion?” Nothing about ending the teams’ five-match streak.
He didn’t stop there either, as less than 24 hours later Ball State walked away with its first win over a ranked opponent in a year — led by Hartley’s 18 kills.
But after the match against No. 10 Penn State, all he could get out in between smiles was, “I’m so excited, I’m just so happy we won.”
Never mind that his first back-to-back starts of the season garnered him the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Offensive Player of the Week — Ball State won two matches.
Reaching back to his Olympic connections, Hartley said he sees former teammates at Brigham Young and Southern California and thinks that this team has the capability to compete with more of the best teams in the nation.
“We can go even higher,” Hartley said. “I can’t wait to do it, too.”
