Quarterback in football. Goaltender in hockey. Point guard in basketball.

All of these are the most important positions in a sport. They are the position that everyone relies on, the backbone.

For volleyball, that position is libero.

So when a freshman wears the opposite color in the team’s starting line-up, one tends to take notice.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled about her play,” said head coach Kyle Robinson on Oct. 2 after Quinnipiac volleyball’s win against Merrimack. “She brings definitely some stability to the passing and defensive game, which we needed and have been looking for, it’s why she’s here.”

Carola Negron Diaz is entered into the roster as a defensive specialist/libero. Defensive specialists switch out for middle blockers and hitters when they rotate into the back line, letting the team’s offense focus solely on attacking, knowing they are backed by a libero and DS.

“I don’t hit, I strictly just backrow,” Negron Diaz said.

Her first game came on Quinnipiac’s Sept. 28 home opener against Rider. Switching in as a DS, often for junior outside hitter Yagmur Gunes, she recorded one dig and one service error in the two sets she appeared in.

“Everybody was just really energetic,” Negron Diaz said looking back at that game. “Everybody was very supportive of a freshman coming in having like four practices before. It felt great.”

The San Juan, Puerto Rico native has since appeared in every game, slowly switching into the different colored uniform and taking over the position of starting libero.

And since then she’s completely transformed on the court.

Donning the navy and gold as a Bobcat, Negron Diaz already amounted 81 digs, 21 assists and even two kills, in the nine matches that she suited up for. For just 29 sets played so far, those aren’t bad numbers at all.

But how did we get here?

Negron Diaz has a simple answer for that.

“I’ve played volleyball my entire life,” she said. “Followed my older sister who’s (also) in college for volleyball, so it’s just been in my life since I was seven.”

One of the three Negron Diaz’s sisters’ Kat Negron is a senior outside hitter at Shippensburg University.

For Carola, Quinnipiac wasn’t originally her first choice. But it was the one that she doesn’t regret.

“I saw coach Kyle and (associate head) coach Katie (Urycki) at my club recruiting and I loved it here when I first came to visit and it’s been great ever since,” Carola said.

Her start to the season wasn’t as smooth sailing as she would’ve wished. She missed the pre-season matches and practices due to back injuries.

“It was very stressful, it was a dark place I’m not gonna lie,” Carola said. “It was a stress factor in my back and then I had a herniated disc in my back. I am finally back and feeling a lot better.”

Her addition to the starting line-up ended senior libero Fa’ave Kimsel Moe’s years-long streak as a starter, a privilege Robinson keeps repeating she earned, as she’s this year’s only starting freshman.

“It feels really good,” Carola said. “I wasn’t expecting it coming here, I really wasn’t. And having the support from my coaches and my teammates to know that I’m in the right spot for this position, it feels really good.” 

Despite being a Bobcat for only a short amount of time, Carola fits into the team like a puzzle piece, and has “gelled” with everyone around her, as junior middle blocker Bailey Brashear put it.

“It was kind of this instant thing, it didn’t really take much time to get used to her being here and at this point I don’t even really feel like she’s a freshman anymore,” Brashear said. “She’s come in and instantly had an impact which I think is really, really cool. For her to come out and take such a big role from the start of her career is not something that you see very often.”

“She has been continuously showing why she belongs out there on the court,” graduate student setter Chloe Ka’ahanui said. “It’s amazing, coming from a freshman, to step out there and own that spot, own that territory, it’s good, it brings me as a setter stability and confidence that she can get up these tough balls.”

Generally speaking, Quinnipiac has a good track record with starting freshmen, notable mentions including junior setter Damla Gunes or junior outside hitter Ginevra Giovagnoni — last year’s MAAC Setter of the Year and this season’s MAAC Preseason Player of the Year respectively. Only time will tell if Carola joins these ranks. 

Carola might only be at the start of her journey, but she knows exactly how she wants it to end — playing volleyball professionally back home in Puerto Rico.

“I wanna go back home and play,” Negron Diaz said.