After a five-season college career at Purdue University and three seasons on the sidelines, one with Eastern Michigan University, WKU volleyball Assistant Coach Jena Otec has hit the courts again as a player.
Otec joined the Professional Volleyball Federation this season as a member of the Grand Rapid Rise for the franchise’s second-ever season. Otec has helped the Rise to a 9-13 record and a sixth-place standing in the league. Since joining the Rise, Otec has appeared in 20 sets racking up 32 digs and seven assists.
Otec said “there were a ton of unknowns” heading into her first professional season and said the transition from coach to player was “pretty immediate.”
“I had been ready and packed. I was like ‘whether we lose in the first round, second round, make a sweet sixteen or make a final four, I’m going to be ready,’” Otec said. “So it was a quick turnaround but I wanted to get up here and get to work and get started.”
Despite taking time off from playing professionally, Otec knew it was important for her to stay in shape for the next level and got in reps whenever she could. Otec gave praise to WKU graduate assistant Kyle Cohan for keeping her in the gym.
“From a volleyball standpoint I would definitely get reps on my own a ton, our graduate assistant Kyle Cohan has been like my left-hand man,” Otec said. “He has been in the gym with me a ton.”
Before her professional and coaching career, Otec was the starting Libero at Purdue from 2017-2021. In her time with the Boilermakers, Otec appeared in all 154 games. Otec packed her resume with countless awards, becoming the first and only Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year from Purdue.
Otec credits her Purdue coaches for why she decided to go into coaching, especially after COVID shut down the world and the opportunity to play overseas.
Otec’s coach at Purdue told her she had “the knowledge and the experience,” to become a coach, so Otec decided to throw her hat in the game. She immediately made an impact on the WKU coaching staff, bringing in Big 10 and libero experience.
“I think Jena, coming in after playing in the Big 10 and even now professionally, she has brought so much to the table in a different way unlike any other coaches can, just because she has played the position and has played at the highest level and she is as elite as they come,” junior libero Abby Schaefer said.
Otec even stepped into the role as head coach after an injury to Head Coach Travis Hudson in the middle of the season took him out for a few games.
“It was no surprise that Jena was going to step into that role and do amazing. The culture that Travis and the coaches and just us girls have poured into and what they’ve created allows us to do that, where there are no excuses in our program,” Schaefer said. “There is like a bigger picture almost and Travis does a really good job of keeping all the coaches in the loop with coaches meeting and they are always all on the same page.”
Despite Otec being in Grand Rapids she has been hands-on for the upcoming WKU season. Otec has continued to be a voice in film and talking to the girls.
“She is so driven and a go-getter with this sport and just being there for the people around her and stuff. So whenever she has downtime and stuff she is on the computer watching film on all of our practices and just giving individual feedback,” Schaefer said. “I think that says a lot about her because she is so busy and she is doing a lot of stuff and continues to take time out of her day.”
Otec said being on the sidelines has given her opportunities to learn from the eye of a coach, bringing that into her professional game.
“I’ve developed a better understanding of different systems that we can run offensively and defensively and learning different forms and techniques that I’ve incorporated into my game,” Otec said.
Sports Reporter Peyton Reid can be reached at peyton.reid502@topper.wku.edu.
