When coach Greg Castillo informed his Loyola volleyball players last spring that he was resigning to become Xavier’s coach, he wanted to make sure that he had taught them one thing: Hate to lose.

According to team co-captains Suzi Ruiz, history senior, and Amanda Gilliard, elementary education senior, he succeeded in his mission. They can’t stand to lose.

In the past three years, the duo has shown their hatred for losing by helping the team to two straight national tournament appearances and a 15-10 mark this season, including a 5-2 record in Gulf Coast Athletic Conference play.

But they remember a time when winning wasn’t the norm for the volleyball team.

*Humble Beginnings

In 2000, Ruiz and Gilliard’s freshman year, Loyola had not yet established itself as a winning program.

The team finished with a mediocre 15-15 record.

Ruiz said that she had a sense in her freshmen year that better times were ahead.

“I would say that we were really young,” she said. “We were excited about the following years because we were competing with teams even though we were so young.”

Better times did come. Now, the team has a full roster and is still among the top teams in Region XIII.

“We’re the only two left that realize that we were not always a successful program,” Ruiz said. “We realize where we started. The rest of our team only knows winning.”

In fact, Gilliard was not even on the team to start the season in her freshmen year.

Castillo knew Ruiz because he had coached her during club volleyball while she was in high school. All he knew of Gilliard was from a conversation he had with her during the summer.

Castillo said that he told Gilliard to send him a tape of her in action, but she never did. Gilliard said that to get a tryout from Castillo, she approached him a month into the season after a home game. Because he was searching for extra players, Castillo decided to let her try out the next day at practice.

“She had played for a well-known volleyball club in Florida,” Castillo said. “I told her I’d give her a tryout. I guess we lucked out that she was a good player.”

“I’ve been here ever since,” Gilliard said.

Ruiz added: “Now, we can’t get rid of her.”

*A Winning Friendship

Ruiz and Gilliard bonded from the beginning. Today, they consider themselves best friends.

As they went through their sophomore and junior years, not only did their friendship develop, but they began to win.

In 2001, the team finished 33-12, including a Region XIII championship and Loyola’s first ever trip to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics national tournament in San Diego.

In 2002, the Wolfpack went 31-11 and made another trip to nationals, even winning a match.

“The whole team knew that they could win conference and regionals,” Castillo said. “They put in the extra time, and they listened. It’s rewarding for all the hard work, especially last year when we actually won a match (at nationals).”

And right in the middle of that success were Ruiz, the setter, and Gilliard, an outside hitter.

“It helps out that we are such good friends,” Gilliard said. “We get along off the court, which helps when we are on the court. If I’m feeling down during the game, she’ll make an inside joke. Then I’ll laugh and move on. She helps me to play to the best of my ability.”

Castillo said that the pair’s will to win added to their friendship and the team’s success.

“They have the same personality,” he said. “They are two goofy kids that love to have fun. But when it came time to playing and competing, they knew how to step it up.”

Tommy Harold, who became Loyola’s coach after Castillo resigned, said something more than friendship can be attributed to their on-court play together.

“It’s more than just friendship; it’s experience,” he said. “Their on-court experience together is invaluable.”

Along the way to helping establish Loyola as a winning program, each player achieved individual success.

Ruiz is the Wolfpack’s all-time leader in assists with 4,198. In a match this season against Mississippi College on Oct. 7, Gilliard became Loyola’s fourth player to reach 1,000 kills in a career.

*Under the Knife

When Gilliard’s back first began to give her trouble during the regional tournament last season, she didn’t think much of it.

She received treatment to help her play in the regional matches. But when nationals came around the following week, the pain had escalated to the point where she could not play.

After the national tournament, she learned that she had to have back surgery to repair a herniated disk. The surgery was successful. However, the doctor told Gilliard that her senior season was lost.

But she refused to let the doctor’s judgment stop her.

In June, Gilliard’s doctor gave her a release to play her final season at Loyola.

“When I thought she wasn’t going to be able to play, I was disappointed, because she had been with me the whole time,” Ruiz said. “I didn’t want to finish without her. When she came back, I was happy for her and the team.”

Gilliard said that she is aware of the potential for injury during a match.

“I still have another disk that needs surgery later,” she said. “If I get a little pinch in the back, I get cautious. But this is my senior year. I have to go all out to make it the best.”

*Changing of the Coach

Before Gilliard’s doctor gave her a release to play the 2003 season, the team had already suffered a loss: Seven-year coach Greg Castillo announced that he was resigning.

Castillo said that even though he knew he was making the right decision for his career, he had difficulty leaving the players in his program at Loyola.

“When I was deciding (whether or not to leave Loyola), I kept thinking about my players and nothing else,” he said. “It was my players that made me enjoy what I was doing.”

Castillo said that when he first tried to tell his team of his decision, he could only muster two words before he began to cry. He said that after he made the announcement, he could see that the players were visibly upset, especially Ruiz.

In June, Loyola hired Tommy Harold, who was the coach of the Cajunland Amateur Athletic Union for five seasons.

Harold said that he had a meeting with his two senior captains to discuss their expectations for the upcoming season and was impressed with what they told him.

“They wanted to exceed what they had done in the past,” Harold said. “At Loyola, it’s the easiest thing just to do this for fun, but they want to win.”

Gilliard said that her two coaches at Loyola had different philosophies.

“Greg tried to be your friend,” she said. “He had the best interest of the team in mind but took everyone’s feelings into consideration. Tommy is more of a discipline coach.”

Ruiz offered a different comparison: “Tommy’s got more hair than Greg.”

Ruiz and Gilliard want to end their careers at Loyola on a positive note. That means making it back to the national tournament.

“We’re focusing on one game at a time,” Gilliard said. “We don’t want to jinx ourselves, but if we play like we’re capable of playing, they’ll definitely be seeing us in San Diego.”