Nov. 4, 2003
By Sara Hunninghake
Mizzou Media Relations
Ask Lindsey Noll how often people ask her about her height, and the Missouri sophomore simply rolls her eyes and laughs.
"Every-day," Noll says, distinctly emphasizing each syllable.
Not a big surprise. At 6-5 how can you avoid the topic with the tallest woman to ever play volleyball at Mizzou?
Height is an issue Noll has dealt with as long as she can remember. As a child, she was taller than most of her classmates. When she got her big growth spurt in eighth grade, it was all over from there.
"It was kind of a difficult adjustment for me to make at first, but eventually I was like, 'Hey, I'm not getting any shorter,'" NoIl said. "It's a blessing being this tall. How many people can say they're a foot taller than the average female?"
Noll is quick to reassure people that she comes from a tall family - her father is 6-9, her mother is 5-10 and her younger brother, who is a junior in high school, just recently passed her at 6-6.
"I'm supposed to be this tall," she said. "I'm no freak."
You don't hear anyone on the MU team complaining. The Tigers have both enjoyed and come to rely on her dominating presence on the front row. Playing all three hitting positions, particularly middle blocker, Noll has become one of the key reasons for Mizzou's 16-5 (8-0 at home) record heading into tonight's rematch with Texas A&M.
A native of St. Louis, it's easy to think that coming to MU was a no-brainer for Noll. Quite the contrary. As a high school junior, Noll had her heart set on going to Arkansas. When her scholarship there fell through in August of 2000, she began looking at other options. Even then, Mizzou still wasn't at the top of the list.
"My parents were like, 'You should look at Mizzou. They have these new coaches who are awesome.' I was like, 'Gross. Mizzou. I do not want to go there,'" Noll said. "They kept pressuring me, kept pressuring me, and finally they dragged me here kicking and screaming on a visit. After my official visit, there was no other school that could possibly work as well for me. Now I'm glad the Arkansas thing didn't work out."
Although Noll redshirted her first year in 2001, she has since jumped right into the mix as one of the team leaders in kills, attacks and blocks. Playing in all 21 of Mizzou' s matches so far this season, Noll is averaging 2.35 kills per game and is second on the team with 0.92 blocks per game.
A large part of Noll's success can be attributed to her enthusiasm and competitive spirit on the court, two traits she shares with her father. Randy Noll developed his competitive edge playing basketball in college, and he even dabbled in the pros for a few years. His experience as an athlete has had a major impact on how his daughter approaches sports.
"It's just in my blood," Noll said. "Being around my dad my whole life, I've seen how he treats everything. He gets mad if he loses a game of solitaire. He's just that type of person. Seeing how much it means to him to compete and to be successful - I'm the exact same way. I can't stand to lose anything, even if it's something stupid like a game of ping pong."
Similar to many of her teammates, Noll's bubbly personality and passion for the game is contagious. She's the first to go crazy when a teammate makes a stellar block or crushes the ball for a kill. You can only imagine what happens when it's her making the big play.
"People make fun of me because I get really psycho on the court," she said. "The game itself gets me really pumped up. I can't understand why people don't jump and scream when they make a big play, but that's just me."
Don't expect that enthusiasm for the sport to die when her time is up at MU. Noll hopes to stay in the sport as a high school volleyball coach after she graduates.
Until then, Noll will continue to pursue a major in elementary education, an ironic career choice considering her extraordinary height. It's almost humorous to imagine the expressions on kids' faces when they're around her.
"They love me, I guess because I stand out so much," she said. "When I first walk into a room, little kids don't care about biting their tongue, so they're all like, 'Whoa, that girl is so tall.' They think it's so fascinating. They're not scared at all."
Hard to imagine that little kids are the only ones amazed with her height when Noll walks into a room. They just have a harder time keeping it to themselves.