Melina Violas has a picture of herself at a young age in an orange wig next to her grandfather, Peter Violas. The two are posing at the bottom of the pullout bleachers at a Syracuse basketball game in the Carrier Dome. Violas, her father, uncle and grandfather all sat 20 rows up in the bleachers for the game.

Although she grew up in Los Angeles, her family’s roots are in Canandaigua, New York, just an hour west of Syracuse. A Buffalo Bills or Syracuse shirt was always in her closet.

And her grandfather — who passed away on July 2, 2008 — was mostly the reason why.

The Violas’ connection to central New York made coming to SU easier, even though Melina passed on offers to play elsewhere and had to make the Orange volleyball team as a walk-on. Violas earned a scholarship as a senior this season and, despite losing her libero spot to freshman Belle Sand amid Syracuse’s (8-18, 1-13 Atlantic Coast) season-long struggles, she reflects positively on her career at and her grandfather’s hand in it.

“I feel close to him every time I put on my Syracuse jersey, or every single time I get to go and have Thanksgiving with my family or to spend holidays with my family that I never got the opportunity to do,” Melina said. “Even though he’s not there, I know he’s still a part of it all.”

On July 2, 2008, Melina and her Santa Monica Beach club volleyball teammates were back at the hotel after finishing the third day of a four-day tournament. Melina’s parents, Guy and Shari Violas, went to the hotel’s pool to order Coronas.

Guy’s phone rang. It was his father’s phone number but his brother on the other end. He told him their father had a heart attack while he was at the Greater Rochester International Airport baggage claim and he might be dying. Guy went numb, ran to his hotel room with his wife and when the phone rang again, he learned Peter had died.

With puffy red eyes, Guy tried telling his daughter the news. But he couldn’t muster any words and when a teammate’s mother did so, a 14-year-old Violas dropped her head in her father’s shoulder.

Within an hour, the family started the 10-hour drive from Reno to Los Angeles, where they flew cross-country to Rochester, New York.

At Peter’s funeral, the poem “Footprints in the Sand” by Mary Stevenson and footprints were printed on cards. To honor him, Melina had the footprints from the cards tattooed on her ribs.

“I felt like when he passed away, I didn’t really get the chance to become as close to him as I wanted to because he lived across the country,” Melina said.

Guy described his father as “the biggest Syracuse fan on the planet.” A native of Canandaigua, Peter’s fandom came from his proximity to SU and from guarding Jim Boeheim when the legendary basketball coach was playing for Lyons High School. For years, Peter kept stats for each basketball game he watched.

Peter’s sons wanted to go to SU, but couldn’t afford to. So Guy ingrained SU and sports into Melina from an early age. When she had to make her decision between Colgate, Cornell and Syracuse, it was an easy one.

Midway through Melina’s freshman season, Syracuse fired head coach Jing Pu and hired current head coach Leonid Yelin before her sophomore season. Despite the coaching switch, she stuck with the program.

“As a walk-on, I never felt she was doing less and asking for something easy because she’s (a) walk-on because she’s not on scholarship,” Yelin said. “She’s a hard-working kid, she did everything like everyone else.”

Nine of Melina’s fellow freshmen joined the program in 2011, but only four reached their sophomore years at SU and only two reached their junior years.

Despite starting 18 games last year, Melina didn’t get a scholarship until this season, which has been a difficult one for her. She’s made 44 reception errors in 26 games, five more than 39 in 30 games last year.

Kathryn Metherell, Guy’s mother, has never missed a home match and would bring pom-poms to cheer on her granddaughter, then soothe Melina by taking her out to dinner after.

The volleyball team used to throw mini-volleyballs to the crowd at home games and Melina would always throw the ball to her grandmother — and each one is still in the trunk of Metherell’s car.

And despite SU’s and her personal struggles, she decides to look at her positive accomplishments with the program. Volleyball has not only brought her closer to her grandmother, but her grandfather too.

“I know that my grandfather is always with me,” Melina said, “and I know that he is always supporting me in everything I do and he’s always looking down on me.”

Published on November 18, 2014 at 12:20 am

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati