Setter helps Yale reach a high note

Barry Faulkner

A gifted vocalist, Jacqueline Becker performed the national anthem

before several Yale women’s volleyball matches this season. But, once

the whistle blew, it was the Bulldogs’ offense she made sing.

A 5-foot-8 junior setter out of Corona del Mar High, Becker helped

Yale earn a historic victory Dec. 2, when the Bulldogs became the

first Ivy League team to win an NCAA tournament match.

Becker, a three-time All-Ivy performer who is just 234 assists shy

of tying the school career record of 3,451, had 50 assists, a

team-high four ace serves, and added six digs to help key a 30-28,

30-21, 31-33, 30-22 triumph over Albany before a home crowd of 916 at

New Haven, Conn.

“It was amazing,” Becker said of the unprecedented triumph. “It

was a huge crowd and the fans never sat down.”

Playing to crowds is one of Becker’s favorite things, whether

she’s in a volleyball uniform or not. A thespian in high school, her

schedule has not allowed her to participate in any dramatic

productions at a school noted for its drama department. But Becker,

an American studies major who still confesses to having Broadway

dreams, is a member of the New Blue, an a capella singing group that

performs frequently.

“I love playing in front of huge crowds,” said Becker, whose play

has helped Yale volleyball, once an afterthought on campus, capture a

growing number of enthusiastic supporters.

“In Southern California, volleyball is a big deal,” said Becker,

who twice earned first-team All-CIF Southern Section Division III

honors at Corona del Mar, where she was the Pacific Coast League

Tri-Player of the Year as a senior. “But when I got here, there

weren’t a lot of people who paid much attention to it. Now, we get a

lot better support, which has really helped our program.”

The Bulldogs went 13-12 her freshman year, but improved to 16-9 in

2003, when Coach Erin Appleman arrived from Penn State to energize

the program.

This season, Yale started 8-7, before it caught fire and won 10

straight matches to earn a share of its first Ivy League crown since

1978.

“We were in a funk early in the season,” Becker recalled. “We had

to decide whether we were just going to throw this season away or

turn things around. I don’t remember, before the season, us thinking

‘This is going to be our year.’ But we accomplished so much this

year, we want to do it again next year.”

The season ended Dec. 3 with a three-game loss to Minnesota in the

second round.

Becker earned first-team All-Ivy laurels and received honorable

mention on the American Volleyball Coaches Association all-region

team.

Her season included a career-high 80 assists in a key win over

Princeton.

“She’s by far one of our strengths,” Appleman said