GoHeels Exclusive: Taylor Fricano's Journey

By Pat James

When Taylor Fricano transferred to North Carolina after spending the first two years of her college career with Wisconsin, she assumed she'd played her last match at UW Field House.

Upon arriving in Chapel Hill in 2015, Fricano learned of UNC's inclusion in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge series, along with Louisville, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Each school would host the event over the next four years.

Fricano anticipated future matches against her former team. However, she never considered she'd still be playing for the Tar Heels when the tournament moved to Madison, Wisconsin.

That's the case this weekend, when Fricano, now a redshirt senior, and 11th-ranked UNC open the 2017 season against No. 4 Minnesota on Friday before facing the No. 7 Badgers on Saturday at UW Field House.

A homecoming of sorts for her, Fricano said she last visited Madison after her first year with the Tar Heels. But that wasn't quite as sentimental as this weekend will likely be.

"When I saw my old apartment, I got a little nostalgic," she said. "But the city itself didn't mean a lot to me. I'm not a city girl. But I know that once I walk into the Field House, it's going to hit me in an emotional way. I'm excited, but I'm not going to cry."

More than 900 miles separate Madison from Chapel Hill, where Fricano has started realizing her potential. But that's not the greatest indication of how far she's come.

'What's best for you'

Growing up in Palatine, Illinois, Fricano didn't make the varsity team until her junior year at Palatine High School. Still, she drew the attention of Dayton coach Kelly Sheffield.

Fricano committed to the Flyers before her senior season. But when then-Wisconsin coach Pete Waite resigned, Fricano's club coach told her Sheffield might be in the running for the head coaching job with the Badgers. Within a few days, Fricano said Sheffield accepted the position.

Sheffield's move shocked Fricano, she said. So she called him – and told him she wanted to follow him.

"When I first went there, I wasn't sold," said Fricano of Dayton. "I was sold by him. So I was like, 'This is the coach I want to play for.'"

Fricano became Sheffield's first recruit at Wisconsin. She redshirted as a true freshman in 2013 and played in just seven sets across six matches in 2014. But following the departures of two outside hitters, it seemed as if Fricano, 6-foot-4, would claim a more significant role in 2015.

That wouldn't be the case. During the middle of spring practices, Fricano said she met with Sheffield, who urged her to transfer so she could receive more playing time.

"I can't force you to leave – we'd love to have you," Fricano recalled Sheffield saying. "But I know you as a person, and I know you need to leave. That's what's best for you."

In the sixth grade, her first year playing Little League softball, Fricano's team was the Tar Heels. Her arsenal of online usernames growing up consisted of ones such as "TarHeels10." But when Eve Rackham contacted her about visiting, Fricano said she didn't expect she'd transfer to UNC.

Joe Sagula had his own hesitations.

When it comes to hosting a recruit, Sagula says uncontrollable circumstances often leave the biggest impression. For Fricano, those centered around a trying trip to Chapel Hill.

The morning of Fricano's visit, her flight from Madison to Raleigh-Durham International Airport was cancelled. The coaching staff stayed on the phone with her for hours searching for another flight before finding one about 80 miles away in Milwaukee. On top of that, Sagula said the flight included a connection and landed in Charlotte, where Rackham finally met Fricano.

Such hectic travel could have detracted from the rest of Fricano's trip. Instead, she said she fell in love with the campus and the team, leading her to eventually sign with the Tar Heels.

"If she was 18, I don't know if it would've been the same," Sagula said. "She knew she wanted to leave and go someplace, and I thought her whole mindset was good. She was very mature in how she handled that."

But it took some time for that maturity to translate to the court.

Where she needed to be

Throughout much of Fricano's first season with UNC, Sagula said he and the rest of the coaching staff attempted to convert her from a right-side hitter to a middle, where her size and athleticism made her an ideal fit.

But those efforts were often met with resistance from Fricano.

One of the topics Sagula said is often discussed among the team is the difference between fixed and open mindsets. And early on, Fricano had the former.

"She really had in her mind, 'I can't do that. I can't block here. I don't know how to do this,'" Sagula said. "And yet we saw that, physically, she could easily do it. We had her play middle and right-side early, and she was going to be more of a right-side.

"Then we got to a point where after about a month we stopped working with her in the middle because she was just so stubborn about it."

The coaching staff tried to convince Fricano to switch positions once again in the spring of 2016. But she remained unwilling.

Then, during the summer, Fricano said she experienced a "growing up moment."

As members of the team began participating in a drill that featured middles during an open gym session, only one middle could be found. Fricano said she then realized that was a role she might need to fill. Thus, she inserted herself into the position – and never turned back.

"Within four days of preseason, she was the hardest-working, best-performing middle on the team," Sagula said. "She basically beat out every other experienced middle in four days because she wanted to."

Fricano proceeded to start all 33 matches in the middle for the Tar Heels last season, when she tied a 16-year-old school record with 142 block assists. Her 1.34 blocks per set ranked fourth in the ACC and 28th in the nation.

Now, as she enters her final season and will likely play both right-side and middle positions, she's one of three UNC players on the preseason All-ACC team and a potential All-America candidate.

"I definitely am not ashamed to say I was one of those people who was uncoachable, could really get in my head, was a head case and could get negative," Fricano said. "It's still not perfect, but it's night and day compared to my freshman year, even last year.

"Last year was a good year, but I'm constantly growing and they're working with me and we're figuring out the right way for me to think about things."

At one point this summer, Fricano said she went wakeboarding at Jordan Lake. And as she rode along, she examined the water, the trees and the distant sunset – each giving her another reason to be thankful for her opportunity with the Tar Heels.

"(There are) moments like that," Fricano said, "where I look around and I'm like, 'This is incredible. This is exactly where I needed to be from the start.'"

And this weekend at UW Field House, she'll be reminded once again of how far she's come.

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