Long Beach State women’s volleyball freshman middle blocker Peyton Grahovac was bred to be an athlete.
Grahovac’s father, Mike Grahovac, played college baseball at Chapman University and was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the fourth round in the 1989 amateur draft.
In her athletic career, Grahovac is averaging 2.11 kills per set for a .256 hitting percentage halfway through her first season as a 49er.
The Daily 49er sat down with the freshman standout to discuss her first interaction with head coach Brian Gimmillaro, her minor stint in gymnastics and Hawaii.
Did having a dad who was a professional athlete affect your decision to play sports?
All of my family, everyone is involved in sports. That’s kind of where the pressure is. Everyone is so athletic in my family, like my cousins and my little brother even. I have to compete with him. Everyone is expected to be good at a sport. I never played softball, and my dad was a baseball player. That was the one thing that people were like, why didn’t you play softball. It’s pressure because I want to be good because he was good. But it’s also fun having a dad that was good at sports because he knows what it’s like, he understands.
What has it been like as a freshman being apart of the defending Big West champion team?
We’re expected to get second, and starters get hurt and you’re like, well maybe we’ll get third or fourth. But I’m like, “no, let’s get second.” We got recruited here for a reason and we have to prove ourselves. We’re not here because we’re backups. We want to earn a spot. I feel like we deserve to get second or first, even though we have already lost two. I feel like if we keep playing the way we are. I think we can do it.
What’s it going to be like playing Hawaii again and do you believe you can take the championship title?
Nov. 6, I have that date engrained in my head. [The Hawaii] game was the first time I was on the right side so they didn’t really know what to expect from me individually, and us as a team since we made a lot of changes. So they know what to expect and they’ll be ready for it, but we also know what to expect as well, so that will help us and be a benefit.
What do you see for your future at Long Beach?
I want to [learn as much as I can] from Brian because I have so much respect for him as a coach. He always tells us, “I’m always right.” Over the last few games I’ve realized, no matter what he says, no matter how crazy it sounds, just listen to him and he’s right. It’s insane. I want to get as much as I can from him. I love playing in the [Walter Pyramid]. I want our team to do [well] and even though we have starters out, and we’re not in the top 25, I want to get back in the 25, and get higher rated.
What was it like the first time you met coach Gimmillaro?
The first real time and I had a real conversation, it was before my junior year and I came to a summer camp here. That was the first time he really saw me play more than just a little game here and there. He came and he was talking to me and he’s like, you are what we like in players here. He knew who I was before, which was really cool because he’s one of the best volleyball coaches ever and I have so much respect for him.
Do you have any other role models?
Every other girl can say Misty May-Treanor. I had one girl, she is now playing in Washington, and when I was in seventh and eighth grade, she was my inspiration. Chrissy Jones, she grew up around here. I really watched her and she was my idol growing all through middle school and high school. [Also], I would say [former LBSU middle blocker] Chisom Okpala. I [love] her, she was one of my favorite players. She was so determined and such a good athlete. We played each other a lot when I would come to the camps and sometimes she comes to [our] practices, so that’s really fun.
How did you start playing volleyball?
I started in fifth grade, I was on the soccer team for club, and the coach was like, I think I’m going to be starting a club volleyball team, you’re going to be tall, you should join. After that I started playing volleyball, and they were like, you’re tall, just keep going. I did gymnastics and then they found out I was supposed to be 6 foot 3 inches, they were like, that’s enough. I loved [volleyball] way more than anything else.