Dailey doesn’t stay down

It’s been said that a cat has nine lives. In college women’s volleyball, Cat Dailey has used at least one.

Yet that is all she has seemed to have needed.

Just two years ago, Dailey, the former Sage Hill School standout, quit volleyball and didn’t think she would ever play the game again after two rough-and-tumble years at UC Berkeley.

But now she’s back at it. Somehow she jumped back onto the court, safely landing on her feet. She’s found a home at Yale University, where last year she was named Ivy League Player of the Year.

However in 2007, she was just a player out of the game. The reason for that was simple.

“I wasn’t having fun anymore and that’s hard to say because I love the game so much,” Dailey said during a telephone interview Wednesday. “For a while there I thought that was the end. I thought that was it.”

Soon after overcoming those thoughts, Dailey was wrapped in stress. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to transfer and follow the advice of her parents.

What about all her good friends in Berkeley?

What would the people back in Newport Beach think if the star from the small school picked up and moved to a different college, and failed?

“A lot of people transfer and sometimes it doesn’t work out,” said Dailey, who led the Lightning to their first CIF Southern Section title in the fall of 2005. “I’ve been lucky because it has worked out in every way.”

After visiting Yale, Cat quickly learned she could find comfort among the Bulldogs.

In her first season, she ranked second in the Ivy League with a team-best 3.73 kills per set. She reached double figure kills in 18 matches, including six matches with 20 kills or more.

Just as she helped break new ground at Sage Hill, Dailey also provided her touch on some momentous feats for Yale.

The Bulldogs completed their best season in program history last year, posting a 21-6 record, winning the Ivy League championship and capturing a first-round victory in the NCAA tournament against Ohio University.

“Cat lived up to and exceeded my expectations in her first season at Yale,” Bulldogs Coach Erin Appleman said before the season began. “She showed her ability to dominate a match when we needed a spark. Her experience in the Ivy League and with her teammates can only lead to more good things this season.”

That showed during the Bulldogs’ season-opening Yale Invitational title. Dailey earned MVP honors.

The 6-foot-1 senior outside hitter helped lead Yale to sweeps against Georgetown, Fairfield and Colorado.

Dailey was on fire, hitting at a .487 clip, notching 39 kills on 78 attempts with just one attack error. She averaged 4.88 kills per set and 3.38 digs per set.

She was named Ivy League Player of the Week.

Cal and the Golden Bears are definitely in the past.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Dailey said. “I miss a lot of things about Berkeley. But I’m here on a program on the rise. It’s great to be a part of that.”

She was a big part of Sage Hill’s rise back in 2005, just the fifth year of the new school in Newport Coast. Back then she was also earning big-time recognition. She was named the CIF Division IV Co-Player of the Year and she was also the Daily Pilot Dream Team Player of the Year.

When Sage Hill Coach Dan Thomassen looks at the CIF championship banner in the gym, he’ll think of players from that team. He never forgets Dailey. How can he? She still shows up during the summer to help coach the incoming players during Thomassen’s volleyball clinic.

“She has meant a lot [to the program],” said Thomassen, whose team opens the season at Laguna Beach today at 5:30 p.m. “We were only in our fifth year of school. To be the first team to win a CIF title was quite a highlight for us. We see that banner practically every day. It’s just a great memory and those girls were a part of a special event.”

Dailey has been quite special at Yale thus far. The sweep against a team like Colorado just gave the Bulldogs more confidence as they head to play in the American University Volleyball Classic in Washington D.C.

They’ll be in a bus for close to six hours today traveling. Maybe during that time, Dailey will reminisce about her success, or maybe think about those days she was done with volleyball.

Then the bus will stop and it will be time for Dailey to play again. She knows this is it, her final season. Then she’ll close the book on volleyball.

“I had good friends in Berkeley,” she said. “But I’ve stayed in touch with my friends. I ended up getting the best of both worlds, a great college experience.

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”