Thomas
leads with fun, focused attitude
By Kandace Hsu
On-line Forty-Niner
 Crazy,
spontaneous and driven are just a few words
that describe senior middle blocker Elisha
Thomas of the Long Beach State women’s volleyball
team. On or off the court, this Long Beach-born
talent knows how to have fun.
“She’s the best teammate anyone could have,”
Brittany Hocheaver said. “She’s a lot of
fun and you never know what you’re going
to get from her.”
Thomas was first introduced to volleyball
by her mother, Margaret Cummings, when she
was a young girl, but never had the desire
to play until high school.
“ I use to watch my mom play,” Thomas said.
“And thought it looked fun but didn’t pick
up the sport until high school.”
She is the only one out of her seven siblings
that plays volleyball. Some of her brothers
play football while one of her sisters earned
a basketball scholarship to play in the
Airforce.
Thomas did not start to play volleyball
until her freshman year of high school.
“It all started when I went out for pizza
with my family,” Thomas said. “And a guy
came up to me and asked if I wanted to play
volleyball since I was tall.”
In high school, Thomas helped lead her team
from Bear River High School to the 1998
Sierra Foothill League title and sectional
championship.
In 1999, she was selected to play on the
USA Junior National Team where she trained
at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado
Springs.
Thomas, who is majoring in political science,
began her college career at LBSU in 1999,
but only played in 13 games.
By her sophomore year, she appeared in 117
games and averaged 2.85 kills, 1.21 blocks,
and hit .314. She was also picked to be
on the second team All-Big West Conference.
Last season, Thomas was an Honorable Mention
in the All-Big West Conference and was the
Big West leader in hitting percentage. She
hit a team-best .433 and ranked second nationally.
Thomas’ attack percentage was the second-best
single season total in 49er history, falling
just shy of Danielle Scott’s .452 mark in
1992.
Thomas intends to take her volleyball career
further by taking a leave of absence in
January 2003 to play on the National Team.
If she is successful, she hopes to someday
join Team USA at the Olympics.
Although Thomas lettered three years in
track during high school, volleyball is
the only sport she loves.
The game has taught her discipline, time
commitment and time management. When Thomas
is not in class or at practice, the 6-foot-3
beauty, loves to relax at home, hang out
with her friends and spend time with her
boyfriend.
“I play volleyball because I absolutely
love the game,” Thomas said. “And that’s
all there is to it.”
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