What a week it is for freshman athletes at the University of Tennessee. Not only will Vols quarterback Faizon Brandon take on the No. 1-ranked Texas Longhorns Saturday, but Tennessee volleyball and Jolene Oddo will host the Longhorns Friday inside Food City Center at 7 p.m. EDT. I caught up with Oddo Wednesday and found a person with a huge smile, full of excitement and grateful to be in this position.
Oddo hasn’t had to wait for her turn. The 6-foot-5 middle blocker from Clayton, North Carolina has been in the middle of it all since the first serve of the season. Through 30 sets, she has 50 kills, good for 1.67 per set, and is hitting .330 with just 18 attack errors on 97 swings. Oddo has also received two Southeastern Conference Player of the Week honors.
“It’s great,” Oddo said. “This is an experience that I’ve been looking for for a long time just because I’ve worked so hard for this. And it’s just great. The team’s amazing. They’re welcoming. I mean, they’ve always been. And it’s just crazy that it’s actually happening. And I’m just grateful that I’m able to do this, and I’m putting in my best work so I can help the team out.”
Oddo came to Knoxville as a high-quality recruit nationally. What sold her on Eve Rackham Watt’s program was something she saw long before she ever put on the orange and white.
“I’ve seen their team play, and I’ve watched them play a lot,” Oddo said. “And it’s just their work ethic. You can just tell, even when they’re on the court, that they work hard in the weight room. The team culture was amazing. And everyone just got along, everyone was able to push each other. We’re going to get stuff done. We’re going to do the best that we can.
“And the resources that they have here, it’s able to push us, and it’s able to give us everything we need to become the best that we can. We’re a really competitive team, so I really like that. I want to make an impact in college volleyball, so that’s somewhere that I really wanted to be.”
That competitive streak showed up Sunday in a big way. Tennessee went on the road to No. 9 Penn State, one of the sport’s traditional powers, and beat the Nittany Lions on their home floor. That was the Lady Vols’ first top-10 road win since 2011. For Oddo, it was the first time she had walked into that kind of environment as a college player.
“It was surreal,” Oddo said. “I honestly don’t even know how to put it into words. I was just so excited. And it was crazy that we did it as a team. We pushed through. They were a really hard team to compete with. And even in their gym, they have a really tight gym and big fans, crowd and everything, and it’s just crazy that we were able to push through that. I feel like that was our first big away game with such big fans and everything. So I guess it really showed how we can face those adversities.”
The No. 13 Lady Vols are 9-1 this season. Even in wins, Rackham Watt has made it clear what her team can do better, and Oddo has bought into that mindset completely.
“Our goal is to be in the final championship,” Oddo said. “We want to win. And you can always learn from everything. Sure, we won, but any opponent that we face is going show something that we need to fix, even if it’s just something small. There’s no maxing out on any skill in volleyball. You can always get better. So it’s always striving to be the best that you can be. And then once you get to the best you can be, you’ve got to push even further.”
That’s how she handles the tough moments too. Oddo doesn’t treat adversity as something to fear. She treats it like a teacher. For a true freshman playing in the SEC, you have to adjust and learn quickly.
“I feel like I’ve always just had a clear mindset, ’cause I feel like adversity and problems that you face, that’s only going to make you better,” Oddo said. “You can’t just be like, ‘Oh, well, this happens. Maybe next time.’ This happened. I will fix it next time. It makes you see what’s wrong and what you need to fix. So I feel like it just helps me stay composed in everything, because you can always get better.”
Playing in the middle is a job that requires a lot that affects both phases of the game. Oddo laid it out plainly. The kills and stuff blocks get the attention, but her first responsibility is making life easier for the players behind her.
“Of course, my goal is to just be as fast as possible,” Oddo said. “As a middle blocker, I feel like our first responsibility is to make our backcourt defense as easy as possible. So my goal is to always just get a touch on the block. The stuff block is great, but you’re not going to get that every single time. So just to make it as easy as possible for our defense, so that our offense can have a better opportunity to get a good set and be really set up.”
She’s been doing exactly that. Oddo has 26 total blocks this season, with four solo and 22 assisted, good for 0.87 per set. That’s second on the team, one behind Chelsea Sutton.
A lot of that happens before the match ever starts. Oddo said the scouting load is heavier than anything she dealt with before college, and turning the page quickly from one opponent to the next has been her biggest area of growth so far.
“Especially before our conference play, it was quick,” Oddo said. “You’re playing a game, you’re home for maybe a day, and then you’re out to go to another game. So it was just, ‘OK, sure, this team might have done this, but now it’s completely different for this other team.’ It was just being able to quickly change and adjust to new teams that we’re playing. I feel like that’s a big growth for me.”
Ask her what kind of player she wants to be over the next four years, and she doesn’t talk about highlights. She talks about trust.
“I want to be a player that is consistent for the team, not inconsistent,” Oddo said. “I want to be someone that our setters can look to, someone that’s like, ‘OK, Jolene’s up there to block.’ They don’t have to worry, and it’s just like, ‘OK, I know she’s going to do this.’ I just want to make that impact for the team and just be someone that the team can rely on.”
Part of that growth is coming from the veteran in the room. Caroline Kerr runs the Tennessee offense with 342 assists this season, 11.03 per set. Oddo said she looked up to the three-time All-American before she ever committed to Tennessee, and now she’s trying to take in everything she can in the one season they have together.
“She just has so much experience, and she’s a role model,” Oddo said. “She’s someone that you really only have a year with. I want to take in every single thing that she can teach me before she’s gone and I don’t get to play with her. We’re able to have clear communication because she’s so experienced. So it’s just easier for me to grow in my skills.”
The love for the game started early. Oddo picked up volleyball in second grade while playing a bunch of other sports, and somewhere around fifth or sixth grade, she knew this was the one.
“I liked the team culture,” Oddo said. “I liked just playing in a team environment and having people be able to rely on me and me being able to rely on other people. Something just stuck with me. I remember playing volleyball and just, like, ‘This is it.’ I caught onto stuff really quickly, especially when I was younger. And I just loved it. The feeling of getting a good pass or a good set or anything.”
Her family in North Carolina backed her decision to choose Tennessee from the start, even if it meant their daughter leaving the state. Oddo knew the six-hour distance in between wouldn’t keep Crystal and Phillip Oddo from being part of it.
“They knew that I would flourish in this environment and really get everything that I need and that I want for my volleyball career, my academic career and my social life,” Oddo said. “So they were very supportive. And I made sure I told my mom to come to every single game. We’re not that far,” she said with a laugh.
Now comes No. 7 Texas and the start of SEC play. The crowds keep growing at Food City Center, with multiple attendance records already broken this season, and the attention on this matchup will be as big as anything Oddo has seen. She isn’t changing anything with her approach.
“I want to look at it like every other game,” Oddo said. “Yeah, we’re playing a really high-level opponent, but you can’t just change everything you know about volleyball just because of a single opponent. So just staying focused on what I know and what I need to work on, just sticking to my usual stuff. And I’m just really excited. We’re going to have to work hard.”
