Russ Rose Then (2007): “Arielle is coming in as a talented, physical offensive player. As she gets into our system, we’ll see if this is going to be a year where she needs to develop and learn what our expectations are, or if she’s going to come in and hit the ground running. I won’t know until she gets in the gym in the fall. She’s an explosive attacker, especially off of one foot, with the ability to hit high, hard and quick. Those are great traits to be able to come in and help the team. The question is whether she’ll be able to adjust to the speed of the college game and the level we’re playing at from a blocking standpoint early enough to compete for a starting spot.”
Russ Rose Now (2025): “Ari was a great offensive player. She was one of the top slide attackers in the country, as shown by her hitting well over .400 for her career. She held the national record for career hitting average for several years and still ranks 2nd all-time in D1. Ari was an incredibly hard worker who Dennis Hohenshelt spent a lot of time working with to improve her court awareness and net presence. She went into coaching and was an assistant for a couple of years at Georgia Tech and Missouri, and at DePaul for a little bit with Nadia Edwards, and now is the head coach at Central Michigan. Ari was loyal and worked hard at everything that was important. She is one of three players at the division one level to have won four national championships, along with Alyssa D’Errico and Blair Brown. She played professionally and spent some time with the national team as well. She always represented us in great fashion.”
2007 Season (Freshman) Highlights and Awards: 2007 National Champion … NCAA University Park Regional Most Outstanding Player … Big Ten Freshman of the Year … Big Ten All-Freshman Team … Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week (10/1) … Big Ten Player of the Week (11/5) … ranked 2nd on the team and in the Big Ten and 5th in the country with a .446 hitting percentage … became just the 2nd-ever freshman to lead the Big Ten in blocks, averaging 1.78 blocks/set in conference-only matches … in all matches, led the team and the Big Ten and ranked 3rd in the country with an average of 1.80 blocks/set, a mark that placed her 2nd all-time on Penn State’s single-season blocks/set list.
Season Recap: Played in 30 matches and 83 sets … saw first career action at the Penn State Classic (9/7-8) and through 6 sets produced 18 kills (3.00 kpg) on .607 hitting with a team-high 14 blocks (2.33 bpg) … earned first career start against Stanford (9/15), recording 10 kills and four blocks … earned first career Big Ten start at Purdue (9/29) and picked up her first career Big Ten weekly award after averaging 3.60 kills/set on .536 hitting with 3.20 blocks/set against Purdue and Indiana (9/28-29) … averaged 2.39 kills/set, recording 7 double-digit kill matches … recorded 149 total blocks for the season … recorded a career-high 10 stuffs against Wisconsin (11/16) … had 26 multiple-block contests … also posted 16 digs for the year.
NCAA Tournament: Posted 10 kills without an error on 11 attacks in the NCAA National Semifinal against Cal (12/13) to hit a career-high .909 … added 12 kills on .500 hitting in the National Championship match versus Stanford (12/15) … fell just shy of the NCAA Tournament hitting percentage record with 68 attacks (minimum is 75 total attacks, record is .564), hitting .618 with 2.56 kills/set in 18 sets … in the final 2 matches of the NCAA Championship, averaged 2.75 kills/set on .645 hitting with a team-high 11 blocks against Cal (12/13) and Stanford (12/15).
Before Penn State: Four-year volleyball letterwinner and one-year basketball letterwinner at Proviso East High School in Maywood, Ill. … three-year varsity volleyball captain and four-year starter for the Pirates … earned all-state, all-conference and all-area honors her senior season … two-time team Most Valuable Player … ranked seventh nationally by Prepvolleyball.com in 2006 … named one of the top 50 recruits in the nation in 2007 … tabbed by Mizuno as the best middle blocker in 2006 … member of the 1st Alliance Volleyball club program … was also named the best rebounder for Varsity basketball at Proviso East, helping her team to the regional championship during her junior season … four-year member of the honor roll and was named all-academic for varsity volleyball during senior season.