Full Great Women Great Danes Interview Transcript
UAlbany's Great Women Great Danes is a new series that will be published during Women's History Month. The series will feature Great Danes, past and present, and celebrate the women of UAlbany.
Q: As a student-athlete you were a successful volleyball player at UAlbany, can you tell me about your experience?
A: I came in as a freshman and they had just won, so we knew we had big shoes to fill because they all left. We came in and there were only 12 of us, I think seven came in that year. So, we just banded together and started from there. We were coached by Kelly Sheffield at that point and with his guidance and for us, for that team, we came together and ended up winning that year [2007] and that [America East] tournament. Then, we went on to win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, which was huge for us. That was the first [volleyball] program to do that here. That was really cool. We set a precedent that year, from there on we knew what we wanted, we wanted to get back to that spot. That year really started everything for us and it just felt that we wanted to be successful not only in America East but out of [league]. It just created a whole different atmosphere in our gym, in our culture.
Q: You were on top of the conference throughout your career, All-Rookie, three-time Setter of the Year, 2009 Player of the Year, what does that success feel like?
A: I think if I didn’t have everyone who I had, all of my teammates and the staffs that I had over the years, I don’t know if we would’ve… if I would have been there. So, just being able to celebrate with them made a big difference. But it was a really small things… I mean it feels good to have [those awards and the celebrations], especially now that I’m older, but I think in the moment, we did everything together and we were successful. That meant more to have that group of young ladies, young women, and to be able to celebrate victory here on the campus. All of the athletes knew that we were in the zone and that we were taking care of business and that, to me, felt pretty… that was pretty powerful.
Q: You are still in the America East record books as second in career-assists and third in season-assists, what can you contribute your success to?
A: I mean, Blair [Buchanan] is first in those and I wanted to beat her. She’s pretty awesome, so that motivated me. She graduated the year before I came in so I had huge shoes to fill. She was an incredible setter, and she’s a wonderful human. That motivated me for sure, individually, in my own head. Teammates … like if I was doing well then I knew they were doing well too, so that’s a big part of that. We definitely talked about it but as a setter, you’re supposed to make everyone look good… you have to make your hitters look good, the pass that you’re getting, you have to make that look good, so if I could do both of those then we’re gonna come out on top.
Q: How did the women around you help you to become the athlete you are today?
A: My biggest one is probably my mom. I mean, she was National Coach of the Year for high school. Honestly, just in being around her, when I came to college, I learned so much about volleyball. Her coaching wasn’t even necessarily geared towards the sport. It was all about relationships and making you a better person. If I’ve learned anything from that it’s to be… and to be a coach now, is that we need to make our athletes better people and drive the best out of them not just in the sport, but outside of [volleyball]. My mom was a huge influence… and my sister is also a big role model, she coaches. She played volleyball at Appalachian State when I was 10 or 11 years old … watching her, she guided me. I wanted to be just as good as she was and that helped. But I have so many family members that are such big influences. After Kelly was our coach, we had MJ, she was so big on the experiences and what you can get out of different places and that just really honed on me. But especially today, there are so many female coaches in volleyball that wanna help each other and wanna be around each other. I’ve gotten to experience that lately and it’s been pretty amazing to have that community so this whole [project] … what we are doing now and what we are going through is pretty inspiring.
Q: Outside of UAlbany, you helped build the sport of volleyball in many ways, can you tell me more about that?
A: Absolutely. I helped teach in a middle school for five years in Chatham, those people are amazing, it's a small town. The athletic director there and myself, we created the middle school team and just grew on top of it. Before then, Chatham was okay, they had good volleyball teams in the past but just the community outside of that, they didn’t have much [volleyball]. We were able to bring [the sport] and have a bunch of camps. The area needs a lot of [support] in volleyball, it’s definitely not the biggest sport here. Just trying to hone that in and grow it. And again, you know, just make relationships with those kids so now they have something to look forward to instead of maybe nothing or something different. That was big for me. I made a lot of good relationships; I still deeply care about a bunch of kids back in Chatham, so that was pretty… it was a neat experience. It was really cool to watch it grow over five years because it went from nothing to having probably 30 or 40 kids try out for a middle school team … and it’s a really small town so it was a big honor and I’m still super proud of them.
For more interviews from the Women's History Month #GreatWomenGreatDanes series, click here.
