Russ Rose Then (2000): “Emily comes from a good high school and club program and I expect her to adjust to college volleyball rather quickly. The players we have had in the past from Pittsburgh have always played hard and were tough mentally.”
Russ Rose Now (2025): “Emily was a backrow player from Western Pennsylvania who played multiple sports in high school, like so many of the kids did and do today. She played for the Penn Juniors volleyball club, which was one of the top club teams back in the day. We had a number of players play for them — Christa Harmotto, and Blair Brown, and Kelsey Ream and Kaleena Walters. What I liked about Emily was her competitiveness. She wasn’t fooling around. She was going to play hard, and if you got on her, she got right back after you. Emily didn’t play a lot, but she played really hard when she had the opportunity. She was like a lot of our players who weren’t the main starters — they were at Penn State because they wanted to get a great education be a member of the volleyball team. They took their responsibilities very seriously. Emily was a great student, was one of our tri-captains her final year, and worked hard all four years to help make the team and her teammates better.”
2000 Season (Freshman): Medical redshirt season … appeared in 5 matches, totaling 2 digs and 1 ace before suffering a season-ending injury … received a medical redshirt.
2002 Season (Redshirt Sophomore)
2001 Season (Redshirt Freshman)
Before Penn State: A four-year starter as a defensive specialist at Ambridge Area High School; also lettered for three years in softball and basketball; led team to undefeated seasons and the sectional championship in 1996, 1997 and 1999; a first-team all-section choice during her sophomore, junior and senior seasons; was a straight “A” Scholar Athlete in grades 9-12; holds Ambridge Area High School-record for career digs (795); set school-record for single season serve receive average during senior season at 2.48; played for Penn Juniors Volleyball Club; led Penn Juniors to an 11th place finish at the National Junior Olympic Tourney in New Orleans in 1999.