Quon-Tom leap: Quon

  Photo Illustration by MINDY ROSS/Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Senior defensive specialist Michelle Quon wears a
different face on and off the court. Quon’s defensive skills have
been invaluable to the Bruins for the past four years.

By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

The sun is setting as Michelle Quon tries not to laugh at the
photographer’s request.

“Look at the ball intensely … look at it like it’s
your opponent.”

This smile is in stark contrast to the focus she wears all over
her face during a match.

But even if her game face doesn’t strike fear into the
heart of the hitter on the other side of the net, her digging
ability surely does.

“It’s the fact that you can frustrate big ol’
6’4” and 6’5” people just in
one play,” explained the 5-foot-5-inch Quon. “They hit
the ball as hard as they can and you dig it. It frustrates them so
much.”

“It’s so fun,” she added with a laugh.

Quon likes what she does. Plain and simple.

She wants the ball to come to her. It’s not just about the
game ““ it’s about getting her job done.

“In junior high, my club coach always told us to take it
personally if you don’t get a ball up,” Quon said.
“So on defense, I want the ball to come my area, but even
more so, I want to get the ball up.

“Because if not, I take it personally.”

A defensive specialist since her freshman year in high school,
Quon has had plenty of time to familiarize herself with the
territory behind the 10-foot line.

Second on her team in total digs, even though she’s on the
court for only half the time team leader Kristee Porter is, Quon is
the Bruins’ defensive threat for half of their rotations.

“I would not hesitate to put her up against anyone. She
can dig, she’s quick, she pursues the ball well. She’s
capable of making a great play,” Bruin head coach Andy
Banachowski said.

“She does it so often that it makes it routine.
She’s always able to get the ball to the setter (Erika
Selsor), not just get a dig up. She’s not satisfied unless
that ball is right there in Erika’s hands without Erika
having to move.”

Now a senior at UCLA, Quon is focused on what’s in front
of her. With six weeks to go in the regular season, she has one
ultimate goal.

“A national championship,” Quon said
matter-of-factly.

Her team started the year ranked No. 1 and now sits at No. 8,
but UCLA’s defeats have come at the hands of some of the
nation’s top teams.

When asked how she’s feeling about this season, Quon
thinks hard and wrinkles her nose.

“It’s like you see it all right there,” she
said as she looks to her outstretched arm. “It’s all
right there and you just see it, and we’re just not playing
how we could be.”

Her team now is much different from the one she joined as a
freshman. At that time, the Bruins were just trying to get into the
tournament.

This year, they have all the right people.

“Now we’re an experienced team that should be doing
something.”

“It’s coming together slowly. It’s good and
bad. It’s frustrating because it’s slow, but it’s
good that it’s coming along,” Quon said.

Quon isn’t the one hammering the ball towards the parquet
floor nor is she the one who sets up the offensive attack, but
without the steady platform of her arms, nothing else would play
out.

“Quono,” as Selsor affectionately calls her,
“is irreplaceable.”

“She is so important in the back row and takes charge in
the majority of our passing schemes. You know that when she sets
you up for a pass, it’s going to be there at the place and
time,” Selsor continued.

Quon breaks down the game step-by-step ““ taking each part
as it comes.

First there’s the serve. Then it’s moving into
position to pass, watching Selsor set the ball, and finally
it’s preparing to cover the hitter as she attacks.

And doing all of this takes patience ““ the kind of
patience that is needed from a defensive player who must wait on
the other team before she jumps into action.

As a senior, Quon is a leader. And in her fourth year as a
Bruin, she has already been through the adjustment and the first
game jitters and therefore does her best to make sure
everyone’s feeling comfortable out on the court.

“Her play is so steady and constant. It’s like
everyone just looks to her and says, “˜Oh she’s the Rock
of Gibraltar out there,'” Banachowski said. “You
know she’s going to get the job done.”

As she’s asked to move the ball around while the
photographer snaps away, that smile peeks through again.

“What are you like on the court … are you two different
people on and off?” the photographer asks.

In an instant, the smile fades behind Quon’s game face and
the question is answered.

After an hour-long escapade of a photo shoot, which included the
interruptions of a Tae-Bo class, the exploration of the second
floor of the Wooden Center and a move to a final destination of the
grass behind Men’s Gym, Quon says, “I am sorry it was
such a hassle for you guys.”

Not as sorry as the hitters on the other side of the net are
when Quon steals yet another kill and takes it under her name as
dig.