Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: Chemistry between Weber, Debell has been a decade in the making
11/20/2019 11:48:00 PM | Volleyball, Word on the Herd
Marshall plays Friday in the Conference USA tournament
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
Amber Weber and Ciara Debell share a few similarities. They're both Marshall volleyball players, for one. They're both from Florida. They met when they were 12 or 13 years old, which was when they started playing for the same club volleyball team.
And that's about it.
"We're complete opposites," Weber said.
But the pair have a rapport on the court that has helped them lead the Thundering Herd this season. Marshall is 18-9 overall – and winners of six in a row – entering Friday's Conference USA tournament. The fourth-seeded Herd will face FAU at 3 p.m. Eastern in the quarterfinals of the tournament, which is hosted by Rice.
Three months ago, when the Conference USA preseason poll was revealed, Marshall was picked to finish 10th. The Herd bested that projection by six spots in the standings, and Weber and Debell are key reasons why.
Weber, a senior who is 5 feet, 4 inches tall, played for Trinity Catholic High School in Ocala, Florida, before heading to the University of South Florida. Debell, a 6-2 junior, played at Vanguard High School in Ocala before enrolling at Florida Gulf Coast.
"We were good friends at rival high schools," Weber said.
Weber transferred to Marshall first, and then Debell followed. Now they're two of the best at what they do in Conference USA. Weber is fourth in the league in digs, and Debell – a first team C-USA all-conference selection – is third in kills.
"She knows what I'm not going to go for, but I know she's going to go for everything I don't go for," Debell said. "We have this established trust."
Weber called their on-court relationship "comfortable," tracing their time together back a decade.
"It's easy because we've known each other for so long," she said. "I know what she's going to cover and she knows what I'm going to get. We have trust. It's not a guessing game."
Off the court, the Sunshine State natives are roommates. They feel like they've grown on their respective journeys, each transferring in search of the ideal student-athlete life. They found that in Huntington, West Virginia.
"You know everyone wherever you go," Weber said. "If you walk on campus, you'll pass 15 athletes walking from here to Starbucks and you say hi to everyone. Ocala is like that. You can't go anywhere without seeing someone you know."
And there's no one they know better than each other.
"We're always together," Weber said. "It's more of a sister-type friendship. We don't have to do anything."
They joke with each other. They confess to pointing out each other's flaws. But mostly they're united by their Florida roots – they proudly represent the 3-5-2 – and the passion in which they play volleyball. They share that energy with first-year coach Ari Aganus.
"She used to play the game with the same energy we play with," Weber said, "so she sees that we have the same kind of passion as her and she lets us play how we need to play. I love her passion. It's fun to be around her on and off the court."
It was no surprise to see Weber and Debell play that way on Senior Night. Marshall defeated visiting UAB, 3-1, in Weber's final home match. Weber recorded her fourth consecutive match with at least 20 digs – finished with 23 overall. Debell finished with 21 kills, including 10 in the decisive fourth set. Afterward, Aganus lauded both players, saying Debell "stepped up toward the end" and Weber "played lights out, as always."
The longtime friends will try to keep that going in the Conference USA tournament this week, hopefully extending their time together on the court.
"We've been playing together for so long and it shows," Debell said. "I don't have to worry about the ball dropping between us. It's maybe happened two times ever."
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications at Marshall University and a seven-time winner of the National Sports Media Association West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year award. In addition to HerdZone.com's Word on the Herd, McGill is the editor of Thundering Herd Illustrated, Marshall's official athletics publication. Follow him on Twitter (@chuckmcgill) and Instagram (wordontheherd).
