Russ Rose Then (2001): “I am really pleased with Cara’s development. I thought she had a great freshman year. She is as mature an athlete and person as we have had in a long time. She is in control of every aspect of her life. She’s a good student, a good volleyball player, and is very focused. That’s a great reflection on the type of person she is. We look forward to her continued development into one of our top offensive players.”
Russ Rose Now (2025): “Cara was an exceptional volleyball and basketball player at Harrison High School in Indiana, and certainly was one of the most competitive players that we had in the program. She never backed down from competition and she wanted the ball. Cara was very mature as an athlete and as a person. One can assume that all teams are filled with Alphas who are really competitive human beings, who hate to lose more than anything, and Cara was all that as a freshman. But she didn’t play like a freshman. She competed in practice, and she competed in matches, and she was somebody that we knew we wanted to get the ball to in key times. She was skilled at all facets of her game. At the net, with her basketball background, she was especially good off of one foot. She was one of our top attackers because she was so good off of one foot. She did this ‘take off and go,’ and we had good setting — first with Jessica Hayden and Shannon Bortner, and then with Sam Tortorello — and she would be able to score and do things to give us a chance to win. She was running slides like Teri Zemaitis had for us a few seasons earlier, and like players like Ari Wilson, who led the nation in hitting, and Christa Harmotto, who did some amazing things, did a bit later, but Cara was every bit as terminal an attacker as those players. Like all those players, Cara was quick, and she was strong in the air, and her hitting the slide was money for us a lot of times. She was terrific. She married a middle blocker from the men’s team and they have two daughters. She’s involved in coaching and they live up in New York.”
2001 Season (Sophomore) Highlights and Awards: Penn State Classic All-Tournament Team … Penn State Invitational All-Tournament Team.
Season Recap: Played in all 108 sets in the season … led team in blocks in 23 of 30 matches, averaging 1.43 blocks/set … ranked 3rd on team with 2.38 kills/set … hitting percentage of .336 was 1st on the team … notched first double-double of the season with 10 kills and 12 blocks while hitting .500 in win over George Mason (9/7) … totaled 14 kills and 5 blocks with .500 hitting percentage vs. Rutgers (9/8) … recorded 10 kills, a .364 hitting percentage, and a team-high 6 blocks in 4-set win over Indiana (9/21) … ripped 14 kills and hit .545 with 4 blocks vs. Illinois (9/24) … totaled 9 kills and 6 blocks at No. 15 Ohio State (9/26) … tallied 5 kills and 4 digs in loss at Wisconsin (10/5) … tallied 13 kills while hitting .545 with 5 blocks in win over Minnesota (10/12) … ripped 11 kills with .476 hitting percentage and a team-best 6 blocks in sweep of Michigan State (10/19) … struggled in loss vs. Ohio State (10/31), managing only 3 kills and a .143 hitting percentage … ripped Purdue (11/2) for 10 kills and a .529 hitting percentage, adding 5 blocks in a 3-set win … tallied 13 kills and a season-high 9 blocks in 5-set win over Minnesota (11/24).
NCAA Tournament: Had 9 kills on 17 swings (.412 hitting percentage) along with 6 blocks in NCAA 1st Round win over Fairfield … held to 3 kills and 2 blocks in 3-set NCAA 2nd Round loss to UCLA.
Before Penn State: A four-year starter at middle hitter and three-time captain at Harrison High School; was a member of the Junior National team in the summer of 1999; in 1998, led high school team to a school-record 31 wins and a state final four appearance; played in the 2000 Indiana State All Games in both volleyball and basketball; also lettered four years in basketball and one year in track.
“Smith eclipses 1000-kill milestone in Lions’ weekend win,” The Daily Collegian, Sept. 22, 2003