Size doesn’t have to matter — just ask Orange Coast College sophomore athletes Nikki Osuna (right) and Ray Holley.

“I mean I’ve always wanted to be a little bit taller but it also makes me work that much harder to prove people wrong,” said Osuna, the shortest women’s volleyball player at 5 foot 3 inches. “When I tell people I play volleyball, they’re like, ‘But you’re tiny.’”

At 5 feet 9, Holley also knows all about people commenting on his size. Even his own teammates call him Smalley.

“To me, being a little bit shorter, that hasn’t bothered me,” Holley said. “I know it makes me want to prove people wrong because they don’t expect me to hit hard.”

Just ask Santa Monica College how hard Holley hits.

Holley earned Southern Conference Player of the Week for rushing 228 yards with three touchdowns in 28 carries in the Sept. 5 season opener in just three quarters.

He also can bench press 225 pounds, 20 times. I don’t think many of can say we can bench 225 once.

“The only problem (of being shorter) is that when he walks into a room he’s not a really big, imposing figure until he takes his shirt off and you’re like, ‘Wow, he’s put together,” said head football coach Mike Taylor.

Osuna’s case is a bit different. In addition to being the shortest on the team, she also had to deal with a knee injury that red shirted her last season and missed the state championship.

But now she’s back in full strength. In her first two games this season, she’s led the lady Pirates to two victories by leading the team with 15 digs in each game.

“Me red shirting last year made me work that much harder in the offseason to prove I that I wanted to be on the court this season,” Osuna said.

Being taller may have some advantages but there are other important factors in sports, like practicing harder, spending extra time watching film and playing smarter.

“They’re usually your hardest workers,” head women’s volleyball coach Chuck Cutenese said of shorter players. “They’re always having to make up for their lack of height.”

You also can’t coach the desire to be a better player. You can’t coach the never-say-quit attitude.

And you certainly can’t coach how to defeat the stereotypes and adversity shorter athletes have to go through.

“(Players) respect him for what he is,” Taylor said of Holley (left). “He’s a good teammate, he hustles in practice (and) he hustles like a man that’s possessed in the game.”

Cutenese added one of the best qualities about Osuna is her aggressiveness, competitive personality and being a verbal leader n all things that cannot be coached.

“I feel like my voice is bigger than my body,” Osuna said.

Well, we hear you guys loud and clear when you play.

[Photo of Osuna by Tony Lee, photo of Holley courtesy of Hank Schellingerhout]