Record-setting Boise State middle blocker Donahue used to prep like a heavyweight fighter
It didn’t take Jessica Donahue long to leave her mark on the Boise State volleyball team.
In her first career match, which happened to be the Broncos’ 2018 season opener against Long Beach State, she set a program record for blocks in a match by a freshman with 10. Her career high is 12.
“She was a pretty elite recruit for us, and we felt like she could come in and start as a freshman,” Boise State volleyball coach Shawn Garus told the Idaho Statesman. “She’s going to be all over the record books by the time she’s done playing.”
Donahue didn’t just start at middle blocker as a freshman. She was named Mountain West Freshman of the Year after leading the Broncos with 135 blocks and finishing fourth on the team with 195 kills.
Now a junior, she ranks No. 4 in program history with 361 career blocks during the rally scoring era, which began in 2001. Overall, she’s tied for No. 9 in program history in career blocks.
“That just makes me want to be No. 1,” said Donahue, who is 131 blocks behind the Broncos’ career leader, Kelly Baker (1985-89), and expects to own the record by next year.
The 6-foot-3 native of Roseville, California, has already cemented her legacy as one of the best middle blockers in Boise State history, and she may go down as the best. But to claim her place in the record books, she had to overcome an old nemesis.
Donahue has a long history of broken fingers. Her digits just seem to hyper extend easier than most, and she’s had them in casts more times than she can count — beginning with a basketball injury when she was in sixth grade. She has broken at least one finger almost every year since.
After a record-setting start to her college career, it happened again. Heading into the Broncos’ second tournament her freshman year, she broke the ring finger on her right hand. In a match against Nevada a few days later, she broke her thumb on the same hand.
Two casts and a massive tape job made the club on her hand look like it had two round ears, prompting Donahue to call it her Mickey Mouse glove. It was her way of putting a positive spin on an experience that was anything but fun.
“That was a lot to get through,” Donahue said. “There were a lot of painful days.”
Heading into her sophomore year at Boise State, she sat down with trainers and came up with a plan to protect her fingers. They put a foam pad on the back of her hands to keep her digits from hyper extending, held the pads in place with athletic wrap and added enough tape that she looked like she was preparing for a boxing match.
It’s not uncommon for college volleyball players to wrap their fingers and hands in tape — especially middle blockers, who routinely defend kills coming across the net at 60 to 70 mph. But Garus said the amount of tape trainers used on Donahue’s hands was something he’d never seen.
“No matter what, in our sport if you’re putting your hands above the net to block, you’re going to have injuries to the fingers, especially the higher the level you play,” he said. “But she really did look like she was ready for a boxing match.”
As out of the ordinary as it may have been, the move worked. Donahue didn’t break any fingers that year, but she felt like she lost something offensively.
“I couldn’t even get my fingers around the ball to grab it,” she said. “And when I hit, it felt like a cloud.”
Donahue sat down with her coaches in January and decided it was time to take the gloves off. Without the tape and foam pad, she began this season blocking with a closed fist. But as the year has progressed, she’s let her volleyball IQ determine how she operates at the net.
“We said coming into the year that my blocking was good, but I needed to step up offensively,” Donahue said. “I’m pretty good at reading hitters and deciding when I can block and when I need to protect my fingers, and I definitely feel like I have a lot more power when I hit this year.”
Donahue leads the Broncos (10-2) this season with 63 blocks, and she’s third on the team with 87 kills.
Garus said her combination of size and athleticism was what caught his attention when he was recruiting her, but her volleyball IQ is what has made her one of the best blockers in Boise State history.
“A lot of times to get a kid with elite size, you have to sacrifice some mobility, but she always moved really well,” Garus said. “Her size helps, but she’s also a really cerebral player. She buys into watching film and preparing for what the other team is going to do, and then she communicates really well with the other players on the front row so we’re organized as a team when we’re blocking.”
Donahue isn’t the only Bronco towering over the competition this year. Freshmen Kayly Pau (6-4) and Chey Jones (6-4) have been with the team since August, and Garus said he takes every opportunity to get the three of them on the court together.
Pau has appeared in every match this season and is second on the team with 108 kills. She trails sophomore Lauren Ohlinger, who leads the Broncos with 177. Jones has added 28 kills in 10 matches.
“I love when Jessica is on the court between them,” he said. “I don’t think she’s ever been nervous a day in her life, and she’s such a great communicator that they can only get better by playing with her.”
The Boise State volleyball team is back in action Saturday at home against San Diego State (noon) in Bronco Gym. Family members of players and coaches will be allowed to attend, with a maximum of 100.
This story was originally published March 18, 2021 at 4:00 AM with the headline "Record-setting Boise State middle blocker Donahue used to prep like a heavyweight fighter."
