Boone Grove’s Maria Otero has never been one to run away from a challenge.
The 5-foot-8 senior could be considered slightly undersized for a setter and is definitely undersized for an outside hitter. But Otero didn’t flinch when her coach suggested she handle both positions.
“I was willing to take it on,” she said. “I’ll only get better from here.”
Otero, an IU Columbus commit, flourished as the Wolves’ setter last season, when she had team highs of 554 assists and 47 aces. But second-year coach Rachel Bontrager, a 2017 Valparaiso graduate who was the 2021 Mid-American Conference player of the year at Western Michigan, thought Otero could do more this season. So Bontrager arranged her team’s rotations to have Otero flipping between setter and outside hitter midmatch.
“She has an incredibly high volleyball IQ,” Bontrager said. “She has to be able to control the ball with just about every skill, which is hard to do, and that’s why they’re different positions.”
Bontrager, whose sister Nicole is a freshman setter at Valparaiso, said Otero is also able to remain calm on the court during a match, which helps her handle the atypical position combination.
“I’d call her the rock,” Bontrager said. “She’s always steady. You won’t know if she’s mad or if she’s happy. She’s just a steady little rock.”
Otero was a hitter in grade school after an early growth spurt. By middle school, though, her height advantage had disappeared, and Otero said she was told by a coach — in the middle of a tryout, as she recalled — to move from hitter to setter.
“I told the guy, ‘Heck no! Are you kidding me right now?’” Otero said with a laugh. “But I started setting that year, I haven’t stopped since and I’ve only loved it more and more.”
Although Otero embraced that role, she said coaches didn’t always embrace her playing there because she’s shorter than the ideal setter’s height for high-level volleyball. That meant she spent more time on the bench than she hoped during the high-profile club tournaments that put high school athletes on college coaches’ radars.
“We’d go to big tournaments, playing against big teams, they’d all be super tall, and I wouldn’t have the height for it,” she said. “It was difficult to stand out as a setter. I think that’s held me back a little bit, and it’s probably the thing I’ve struggled with the most.”
But Otero was persistent about finding a college program and announced her commitment to IU Columbus on social media in late April. That development didn’t completely remove the underdog mentality that has carried her this far.
“It’s still something that’s always going on,” Otero said. “I try not to look at the other side of the court too much. I’m trying to focus more on myself, staying motivated to be better.”
Otero is always motivated to have a positive impact on the next wave of Boone Grove players, which is indicative of her leadership skills. She has been a team captain since her freshman season.
Mya Wargo, a freshman setter whose emergence early this season is one reason that Otero has been given more of an offensive role, said she has benefited from Otero’s guidance.
“She’s very supportive, but she’s also not one to sugarcoat stuff,” Wargo said. “She’ll tell you what you need and what’s going to make you better. She just helps make everyone better.”
Guiding freshmen and sophomores is just the latest challenge for Otero, who also plays softball and hit .389 with 21 stolen bases and 24 runs scored last season.
“We have a ton of underclassmen who have a bright future,” she said. “My goal is to try to prepare them as much as I can before I leave so we can continue to have a great program.”
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Dave Melton is a freelance reporter.