Russ Rose Then (1997): “I think if we have a great season, Terri is a leading candidate for national player of the year, because everkybody who we play is aware of what they have to do to try and stop her. Like us, when we play other teams that have great players, we know who they are, we’re goiing to try to do some thigs to affect them, and I think Terri is one of those players that people try and do things with. I think she has the respect of her peers and the opposing coaches in the profession. She still needs to continue to work hard and practice hard. Her game is by no means done, but she’s had an exceptional career up to this point.”
Russ Rose Now (2025): “Terri Zemaitis was one of the all-time greats at Penn State. In 1997 she was the NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player on a team that didn’t win the championship — it’s a rarity for that to happen. She was a great multisport athlete — volleyball, basketball, and I believe she was an exceptional softball player. She was an incredibly competitive, enthusiastic, team player, who never wanted the attention on herself, even though the attention was always on her because of her skill and because she had such a presence. She was a Chicago kid and she had some moxie, which I always liked. She went on to do a number of things. She was with USA Volleyball for a while, and while she was in USA Volleyball in Colorado Springs, she met a young man who was a member of USA Wrestling. They got married and started a family, and I believe she had six kids and is a grandmother now. He runs a wrestling developmental program and Terri still does volleyball instruction for younger players.”
1997 Season (Senior) Highlights and Awards: NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player … NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team … AVCA All-America … All-Big Ten First Team … together with Penn Stare’s other 2 seniors — Jen Burdis and Teri Wroblewski — finished her career with a 4-year record of 123-17 overall and 67-4 at home, with 2 Big Ten titles and 2 Final Fours … finished her career having played in 458 sets, totaling 1842 kills for a career average of 4.02 kills/set with a .304 career hitting percentage, 736 blocks for a career average of 1.61 blocks/set, and 1005 assists for a career average of 2.19 assists/set … at the time, she was the only player in Big Ten history to ever record 1,500 career kills, 1,000 career digs, and 500 career blocks… had the team’s two highest individual kill totals in a 1997 match 2 times: 25 kills vs. Stanford (12/20) and 25 kills vs. BYU (8/22) … had the team’s highest individual block assist total in a 1997 match with 14 at Illinois (11/1) … had the team’s highest individual block total in a 1997 match with 15 at Illinois (11/1) … had the team’s highest individual service ace total in a 1997 match with 5 (three times).
Season Recap: Played in 114 of 120 sets and 34 of 36 matches, missing some time early in the season due to shin splints … led team with 3.80 kills/set, hitting .356 … ranked 2nd on the team with 1.62 blocks/set … led the team with 37 service aces … ranked 3rd on the team with 2.27 digs/set.
NCAA Tournament: Posted 4 total blocks in the sweep (15-8, 15-7, 15-4) of Northern Illinois (12/6) in the NCAA 2nd Round … totaled 13 kills and 12 digs in Penn State’s sweep (15-4, 15-4, 15-10) of #25 Ohio State in the NCAA East Region Semi-Final (12/12) … recorded 15 kills in the NCAA East Region Final sweep (15-0, 15-12, 15-10) of #6 BYU (12/13) … posted 14 kills, 10 digs, and 4 blocks in Penn State’s 3-0 win (15-11, 15-12, 15-13) over #8 Florida (12/18) in the NCAA Semifinals … recorded 25 kills, 25 digs and 5 blocks in Penn State’s 5-set loss (10-15, 6-15, 15-2, 17-15, 9-15) to #3 Stanford (12/20) in the NCAA Finals, earning the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award.
Before Penn State: Zemaitis graduated from Downers Grove South High School in 1994, where she excelled in both volleyball and basketball. She was the Chicago Tribune and the March of Dimes Chicagoland Female Athlete-of-the-Year, a Volleyball Monthly first-team All-American, a “Fab 50” selection, a three-time all-stater and a four-time all-conference selection. She was a power forward and center on her high school basketball team that went to the Illinois “Elite 8” and was a USA Today All-American, also earning all-state honors twice and all-conference honors four times. At Downers Grove South she totaled 1.300 career points in basketball. She averaged 20 ppg and 10 rpg in her basketball career, with a high of 44 points against (Elmhurst) York High School. Terri earned all-state player honors and was the Player of the Year for both the Chicago Tribune and the Daily Herald newspapers.
“Zemaitis set to lead Lady Spikers,” The Daily Collegian, Sept. 6, 1997
