Timing Was Right for Roque and Dodd : Volleyball: After May tournament, both players were without a partner. They joined forces and have been making an impact on the women's pro tour.

By IRENE GARCIA

July 9, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

WESTWOOD — It seems appropriate that Elaine Roque and Patty Dodd are teammates on the Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. tour, but getting together was anything but easy.

In recent years, each player has suffered career-threatening injuries and stormy relationships with partners. The similarities don’t end there.

Both women were All-Americans at UCLA and are teachers--Roque at Santa Monica City College and Dodd at Felton Elementary School in Lennox.

But they didn’t exactly plan to become partners. After the May 31st Shootout in Las Vegas, each player was left without a partner. Roque and Janice Harrer went their separate ways and Dodd and Jackie Silva split up.

“We were left over,” Roque said. “Patty and I kind of got tossed together.”

Dodd, who lives in El Segundo and is married to Assn. of Volleyball Professional player Mike Dodd, had tried to team with Roque for years.

“I’ve asked Elaine to play with me at least five times,” Dodd said. “But she was always faithful to Nina (Matthies) and then Janice. When she broke up with Janice, I knew it was a good opportunity.”

Roque, one of the best blockers on the beach, has a history of long partnerships, an oddity on the tour. Roque, 32, has had only had four partners in five years. She won the 1990 World Championships at Laughlin, Nev. with Matthies, but Matthies initiated a breakup after the team placed ninth in the first tournament of 1991.

The 5-foot-11 Roque had knee and shoulder surgery at the end of 1990 and acknowledges she wasn’t at full strength, but breaking up with Matthies was difficult to endure.

“Emotionally I was really disappointed,” she said. “I was devastated. We had been together for so long . . . I was really hurt.”

So Roque teamed with Harrer, a defensive specialist. In 1991, they reached the final of five tournaments and placed third in three others.

After finishing second in the first two events of 1992, the team struggled. They broke up after placing fourth at the May 17 Fresno Open. Roque placed ninth at Seal Beach and eighth in Las Vegas with Barbara Fontana before teaming with Dodd, 28.

In their first tournament on June 7 in San Diego, Roque-Dodd placed fifth. They were seventh at Hermosa Beach on June 14 and lost to the top-ranked team of Angela Rock and Karolyn Kirby in a double-final at Austin, Tex., on June 21. Two weeks ago they placed third at Cape Cod, Mass. and last week they finished ninth at Atlantic City, N.J.

“They’re really solid, confident and steady,” Kirby said. “They’re a real tough-to-shake-them type of team.”

Although losing to Kirby-Rock was a disappointment, it marked the first appearance in a final for Dodd since July 21, 1990, in Boulder, Colo. Her last tournament title was at Huntington Beach in 1990 when she teamed with Kirby.

“It was a great feeling,” Dodd said. “It was really a big confidence-booster. I needed that.”

Dodd had shoulder surgery in October, 1990, and, like Roque, played in pain for most of the 1991 season. In fact, Dodd was so discouraged with her play in early 1991 that she seriously considered quitting the tour.

She had a difficult time hitting, her serves were ineffective and, as a result, finding a good partner was difficult. She competed with six different partners and didn’t find success until teaming with Silva toward the end of the season.

Dodd played in the first two events of 1992 with Holly McPeak before teaming with Silva, but their best finish was third at Fresno.

“We were not getting along well on the court,” Dodd said of her partnership with Silva. “After placing fifth at Seal Beach, I saw her at the gym that Monday and she said, ‘I’m playing with Cammy (Ciarelli).’ So I went home and called Elaine.”

Kirby, the WPVA’s most valuable player in 1991, believes it was a good move.

“She looks like the old Patty to me,” Kirby said. “Her arm looks like it’s fast again. She’s doing some nice hitting again, hitting I haven’t seen her do in a couple of years.”

Unlike their former partners, Roque and Dodd are known as two of the quietest players on the tour.

“We’re the silent team,” Dodd said laughing. “Elaine’s a great player and I like the way she treats people. She’s nice to her partners. Elaine makes me feel, if not my height, maybe taller. In the past I felt like a flea. I had no confidence.”

Roque, who was named the WPVA’s best blocker in 1991, was also named best sportswoman. She said Dodd’s powerful hitting and consistent play are a reason she sees the partnership lasting.

“She’s such a great all-arounder,” Roque said. “Emotionally she gives me a lot of support. She has a constant demeanor that I didn’t have with my past partner. I’m not screamed or yelled at. It’s a lot more fun now.”

Dae Lea Aldrich, who has coached Roque for three years, says she is physically and mentally healthier than in 1991. Aldrich believes Roque has benefited from playing with Dodd.

“Elaine takes criticism real well, but not if it’s degrading to her,” said Aldrich, who is also the girls’ volleyball coach at Mira Costa High. “Last year Elaine needed that leadership from Janice to help finish her season. But now she’s enjoying playing with someone who is encouraging and positive.”

Dodd says Roque is a perfect partner.

“Of all the partners I’ve played with, she’s the easiest to play behind because of her block,” Dodd said. “It’s so much easier for me to defend when she’s up there.”

Roque says another plus in teaming with Dodd is that both players speak Italian. Dodd, who is Colombian, and Roque learned the language while playing in an Italian pro indoor league.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Roque said. “We speak Italian on the court.”

Said Dodd: “It gets other players edgy. We speak Italian in the players’ tent too. We talk strategy right in front of them cause they don’t understand.”