Flores determined to lead Vanguard to unprecedented success

The road to the NAIA women’s volleyball championship is strewn with random chaos. At the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, site of the 24-team national tournament that began Tuesday, there are typically three courts containing three simultaneous matches, complete with three staccato rhythms of whistles, cheering, and additional notes in a cacophony of competition.

It is the kind of environment that can challenge the strongest competitor’s focus.

But Vanguard University middle blocker Stephanie Flores is undeterred.

The 6-foot-1 senior did not become Golden State Athletic Conference Player of the Year by being easily distracted. It was, in fact, her ability to lock in mentally and a relentless work ethic that maximized her physical skills and helped propel the No. 6-ranked Lions to the program’s first conference crown this season.

It is the kind of singular sensory convergence that some equate with operating in the zone. And, at least for Flores, it is not achieved with the simplicity of pulling on her knee pads.

“We all mean business in the sense that [competing] is our job as athletes,” said Flores, who has helped the Lions (24-5) win the first two of their three Pool F contests in Iowa, as they work toward a berth in the single-elimination rounds to follow. “We play volleyball. We play for Vanguard. And to do our job correctly is to win. When we mean business, we’re going to win.”

Before Flores puts on her business suit, aka her uniform, she begins ratcheting her mindset so tightly that no periphery can penetrate.

“The thing that has helped me beyond my physical skill is developing my mental game,” Flores said. “Before my sophomore season, our entire team read a book about the mental game. I was more interested in it that my most of my teammates and I really began implementing those principles on the court. In a nutshell, the book [“The Inner Game of Tennis”] talked about following the ABCs. Those were: act big; breathe big; and commit big. Acting is visualizing what you want to do to be successful. Breathing big is taking deep breaths, like when you get blocked, or you make an error, just slowing it down within myself. And committing big is to commit to my plan as a middle blocker. I have multiple jobs and I need to commit to every single one of them. So those ABCs all tie into everything. Essentially, my M.O. is to play big.”

Flores, who has now read a shelve full of books on sports psychology, has indeed come up big in her swan-song collegiate campaign. The three-year starter has increased her production this season, enhanced her leadership role, and, Vanguard Coach Eryn Leja said, basically shuffled her way into the spotlight. She led the GSAC with a .404 regular-season hitting percentage. And, entering Wednesday’s match, she had 154 kills and 104 total blocks.

“She has always flown under the radar, because she has never been this flashy player,” Leja said. “But this year, she has just been unbelievable and definitely deserved to be [GSAC] Player of the Year.”

Flores was slightly less convinced of her worthiness to earn the conference’s top individual honor.

“Once I was named [GSAC] Player of the Week this season, I thought ‘OK, maybe I can actually make the All-GSAC team,’” Flores said. “So my main goal was to be all-conference. And I think middle blockers are very overlooked, so I didn’t really think I would ever be Player of the Year.”

Before high school, and still in the midst of a long association with soccer, Flores never thought she would play volleyball. But, after heeding an invitation from friends to try it, she fell in love with the sport as a freshman at Yucaipa High.

She eventually wound up on a Temecula-based club team coached by Leja. But when Leja took over the Vanguard program after one season as an assistant five years ago, recruiting Flores was hardly a quick-set kill.

“She turned me down when I first approached her,” Leja said. “But I finally got her to visit and when she walked on campus, she fell in love with the school.”

Flores has relished her place in the Vanguard community, as well as a team she considers to be a family committed to unprecedented success.

“I think a huge strength of our team is our cohesiveness,” said Flores, who noted that she worked hard to become more of a vocal leader this season. “It’s the closest team I’ve ever been on. We’re a family and we work as one unit. From Day One this season, we’ve talked about how this team was capable of winning the national championship.”

Flores has visualized a national championship all along. It’s a vision that remains impervious to distraction.