Draft Prospect Profile: MB Natalie Foster
Foster transferred from Wichita State to SMU and is a key to their 2024 success.
Natalie Foster transferred from Wichita State to SMU last offseason without much heralding, but in retrospect, the volleyball world should have taken note. She’s been a red hot hand for the Mustangs as they battled their way into ranked status during non-conference play and showed no signs of slowing down against defensively sound Boston College and Pittsburgh teams.
How far Foster has come since transferring from Wichita State is a credit to the SMU coaching staff, and her ability to grow into what they saw in her is a credit to Foster. The relationship between player and coaches has been crucial as Foster becomes more skilled and more confident in herself. Foster made it clear that she fits better at SMU is than she ever did at Wichita State. She repeatedly called the opportunity to play at her new school a blessing.
“I hadn't felt like I'd been growing as a volleyball player for the past couple years,” she explained. “I wanted to find an opportunity for myself where there was more growth opportunity. I wasn't even on the team yet and [Coach Trent Sorenson] was sitting down with me reviewing my film from Wichita State and was just like ‘Look, this is where you're really good, this is what we would love to bring to our team, and here are some areas of improvement.’ The coaches saw that in me and that was really awesome.”
In the months since transferring to SMU, Foster has specifically seen herself improve as a blocker. With the dynamic skills to be an offensive monster in the AAC, her defense was never the top priority in years past. Coming into the ACC required her to be a more well-rounded player, though, and the Mustangs had a specific plan to help her improve at the net.
“They pointed out my second step in my blocking footwork, specifically going out to the pins, it was a lot shorter than it should be and that caused it to be an issue for me closing and I'd leave a lot of holes in the block. So, we've definitely worked a lot on extending our second step. Trent would come to the side we're blocking on and do his steps out to block on the outside, put tape down on the ground where his second step is, and tell us we need to get past that, just forcing us to really focus on extending our second step,” said Foster.
None of that has come at the expense of her offensive output, though. Under the guidance of the staff at SMU, Foster has gotten better in every phase of the game. Statistically speaking, she’s been an efficient hitter and server, going toe to toe with top teams and coming out on top. Through 16 games, she’s hitting .407 as a secondary option in the Ponies’ offense. That slate includes eye-catching performances such as her five service aces against Nebraska and hitting 10-for-15 against Houston.
At the end of the day, playing offense is why Foster loves being a middle. She was largely calm during our conversation, but was at her most radiant when discussing all the different ways she can terminate the ball.
“As a middle, you're not stuck running one or two routes. There's always another chess piece, another way to move the game. There's always another move. If you get blocked running a front quick, you can go behind, like, you can space out and run a two gap. There’s a lot of different options,” she said.
Foster has also proven herself to be capable of scoring from the service line this season. Her previous season high total aces was 26, but she has already blown that number out of the water with 37 aces in approximately half as many sets. She’s hit a new gear in production as the result of a new, aggressive mindset at the line. In the past, she never cut loose as a server and Wichita State asked her to take some velocity off the ball to prevent service errors. By instilling faith in her serve, SMU has enabled Foster to be one of the nation’s deadliest middles in the service game.
Foster has been sporting a thumb compression sleeve for much of this season, which seemed like a bad sign at first glance, especially because it tends to be tough to get good info from college teams about injured players. She clarified that she wears it to stabilize her hand, which can occasionally flare up thanks to a severe thumb sprain sidelined her years ago. It was feeling tweaky again after blocking a slide by Nebraska star Andi Jackson in early September. Nevertheless, I’m not terribly concerned. After all, she continued to play a blazing hot brand of volleyball while wearing the thumb sleeve and it has been absent more recently.
These ingredients spell a potential pro career for Foster. Her ability to continue getting better on the court as a grad student speaks to her affinity for the sport and is a great sign for what she could do if a PVF team was willing to roster her as a backup or on the practice squad. Foster said that most D1 athletes could play professionally if they have the right outlook, and pointed to her willingness to learn as a reason why a team should invest in her.
“I really respond well to coaches that believe in me but they're not afraid to be hard on me and call me out when I might be doing something wrong,” she said. “I will sometimes not know that I’m doing something wrong or I might have a hunch that something's going wrong, but I don't know exactly how to correct it. If a coach can, you know, redirect me but still put that belief behind me, that goes a long way.”
Foster admitted that she doesn’t know much about what will come next for her after playing out her final season of eligibility. Wherever she ends up, though, she’ll be suited to the task mentally. SMU took on a pretty hefty non-conference schedule, but she didn’t bat an eye because she had renewed confidence in herself and her teammates.
“I'm not super intimidated because I'm next to a team that I know is the best I've ever been on,” she said. “It's the best shot I’m ever going to have at playing and competing at this level.” That seize-the-day mentality will help her fit in neatly in any pro situation.
Some quotes were lightly edited for clarity. To watch full SMU games, click here and here. To watch Foster at Wichita State, click here (2023) and here (2022).