Russ Rose Then (2007): “Christa has taken a giant step up from where she was last year, both physically and in awareness of what she needs to do to be her best as the season progresses. She is incredibly strong, and at times nearly unstoppable from an offensive standpoint. She plays hard, plays well with her teammates, and if she has a healthy season, she’ll get the recognition that she deserves as one of the nation’s top middles. She is as good a teammate as she is a player.”
Russ Rose Now (2025): “Christa had an unbelievable career at Penn State and went on to be the captain of the Olympic team. She didn’t have as long of a professional career as she could have, because she got married and focused on her family and children. While she was at Penn State, every decision she made was a good decision for her and the team. I’ve told a story about a time I came in early one Sunday morning to go to go in my office, and I bumped into Christa. She’s dressed up all nice, and I’m like ‘What are you doing?’ And she says ‘I teach Sunday school.’ And I’m thinking “What more good things can you do?’ She was a player that led by example. She and Nic [Fawcett] never backed down from competition, and we had great success with them and others during the four-year stretch from 2007 to 2010. Christa is one of the players I coached who if I had to check a box for who I would want to coach for my entire career, she would be one of those individuals. She was committed to everyone and was one of the best players in the country at her position.”
2007 Season (Junior) Highlights and Awards: 2007 National Champion … Honda Award Finalist … AVCA First Team All-America … NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team … ESPN The Magazine Third Team Academic All-America … Big Ten Player of the Year … First Team AVCA All-Mideast Region … NCAA University Park Regional All-Tournament Team … First Team All-Big Ten … ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic-All District … Yale Classic All-Tournament Team … Penn State Classic All-Tournament Team … Nebraska Holiday Inn Downtown All-Tournament Team … three-time Big Ten Player of the Week (8/27, 9/24, 10/15) … preseason All-Big Ten … Academic All-Big Ten … Dapper Dan Female Athlete of the Year finalist … led the team and the Big Ten and ranked 2nd in the nation with a .492 hitting percentage, also a new Big Ten record … hitting percentage mark placed her 2nd on PSU’s single-season list … ranked 2nd on the team and in the Big Ten and 6th in the nation with 1.65 blocks/set … ended the season with 516 career total blocks, good for 6th in the Penn State annals, which made her only the 6th player in Lion history to record more than 500 career blocks.
Season Recap: Started all 36 matches and played in 121 of 122 sets … … … had 18 matches of hitting .500 or higher for the season … set a new career high by hitting .917 (11-0-12) versus Michigan State (9/21) … produced 22 double-digit kill matches including a season-high 16 at Wisconsin (10/21) ….. provided a team-high 200 total blocks, good for seventh all-time … her 167 block assists ranked 2nd all-time on the single-season list and was just 10 shy of the record of 177 set by Terri Zemaitis in 1996 … .. had at least 3 blocks in all but 2 contests … recorded 11 blocks against Michigan State (9/21) and posted 12 at Illinois (10/19) … more than doubled her career digs total with 57 during the 2007 season … also added 14 service aces, including a career-high two against Northwestern (9/22) and Michigan (10/12).
NCAA Tournament: Just missed setting an NCAA Tournament record (.564) as she attacked at a .548 clip with 3.00 kills/set in the Lions’ 20 sets in the NCAA Tournament … in the NCAA Semifinals against Cal (12/13) and the NCAA Finals against Stanford (12/15), averaged 2.62 kills/set (21 kills) on .459 hitting with 10 blocks.
Before Penn State: Three-year volleyball letterwinner and two-year basketball letterwinner at Hopewell High School in Hopewell Township, Pa. … team captain for the Vikings in 2004 … Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year in 2004 … two-time Prep Volleyball High School All-American … 2004-2005 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Female High School Athlete of the Year … a member of the 2004 USA Women’s Junior National Team that won the NORCECA Championship in Winnipeg, Canada … also selected to the 2005 USA Junior National Team that competed in Ankara, Turkey, at the FIVB Under-20 World Championships … two-time Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Athlete of the Week … Mizuno First Team All-American following senior season, also picking up Beaver County Times, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Female Athlete of the Year accolades … two-time first team all-state, all-WPIAL and all-section … posted a scholastic team record of 75-4 through three years … recorded a school-record 186 blocks during junior season in 2003 … also posted a school-record .595 hitting percentage in senior year to go along with 448 kills, 376 digs and 172 blocks … led the team to a No. 1 ranking in the state of Pennsylvania and the 2004 section, WPIAL and state championships, winning every tournament entered prior to the postseason … also section and AA WPIAL champions in 2002 and 2003 … helped Hopewell to a 59-0 record against WPIAL opponents from 2001 to 2005 and a 103-match winning streak against section opponents … member of the Pittsburgh Renaissance Volleyball Club that qualified for the Junior Olympic Nationals in 2004 and 2005 … member of the National Honor Society … earned the KDKA Extra Effort Award … a four-year scholar athlete … named the Lions Club Student of the Month … was a member of the Principal’s Student Leadership Advisory Board.