Russ Rose Then (2012): “Micha had a great freshman campaign, especially from the endline. I believe as she continues to develop in her knowledge of setting she’ll become better and better. She competed hard as a freshman and was never afraid.”
Russ Rose Now (2025): “Micha was one of the iconic players during her years in college volleyball just by the impact that her serve generated. To me, her greatest strength was how mentally tough and competitive she was. I never had to worry about her being ready to go out there and compete, doing everything she could to help the team. She played when she was banged up, and demonstrated great leadership. She was a National Champion, a multi-year All American, a two time Olympian, and an Olympic Gold medalist. She’s still playing professionally in the U.S. after numerous seasons outside the country. She checks all the boxes. Good student, great teammate. I am incredibly appreciative of everything she did while she was here at Penn State, proud of who she was when she was here, and proud of who she is today.”
2012 Season (Sophomore)Highlights and Awards: AVCA First Team All-America … Volleyball Magazine First Team All-America … West Lafayette Regional All-Tournament Team … AVCA Mideast Region … Big Ten Setter of the Year … All-Big Ten … Big Four Volleyball Classic All-Tournament Team … Big Ten Player of the Week (9/3) … Big Ten Setter of the Week (9/3, 9/24, 10/1, 10/22, 11/5, 11/19) … AVCA National Player of the Week (11/6) … her 11.22 assists per set ranked 2nd in the Big Ten and 28th nationally … she paced the Penn State offense to a .302 hitting percentage for the season, which topped the Big Ten and was 3rd nationally … led the team with 81 aces, which ranked 2nd on Penn State’s single season chart behind the 91 she posted in 2011 … her 0.65 aces/set led the Big Ten and was 3rd in the nation … through her sophomore season, she had 172 aces for her career, which ranked 4th in the Penn State career records … she set the Penn State single match record for aces with a career-high 10 against Binghamton in the NCAA First Round.
Season Recap: Started all 36 matches at setter and played in all 125 sets … totaled 1,403 assists for the year, averaging 11.22 assists/set …… was 3rd on the team in digs with 298, averaging 2.38 digs/set … had 10 double-digit digs matches and 10 double-doubles … had at least 2 digs in every match of the season … posted 76 blocks for the season … had at least 1 block in 29 of 36 matches and had 20 multiple block matches … had 53 assists, 3 aces and a career-high 23 digs vs. Stanford (8/31) … had 34 assists and 5 kills against Texas (9/1) … posted 27 assists, 7 blocks and 3 aces vs. UIC (9/9) … had 55 assists, 6 kills and 11 digs vs. Nebraska (9/19) … had 53 assists, 3 aces and 11 digs vs. Iowa (9/22) … had 46 assists, 3 aces and 4 kills on 7 swings at Wisconsin (9/28) … had 53 assists and 13 digs at Illinois (10/6) … had 40 assists, 3 aces, 15 digs and six blocks vs. Indiana (10/13) … recorded 61 assists, 13 digs and a career-high 8 blocks at Nebraska (10/28) … guided Penn State to a .452 hitting percentage and tallied 35 assists and 8 digs at Indiana (11/16).
NCAA Tournament: Set the NCAA Tournament record for aces in tournament play with 22 … set the school single-match record with a career-high 10 aces and had 33 assists and 6 digs vs. Binghamton (11/30) … had 5 aces vs. Bowling Green (12/1) … recorded 46 assists, 5 aces and 13 digs vs. Minnesota (12/8) … had 45 assists, 3 kills and 12 digs vs. Oregon (12/13).
Before Penn State: Four-year varsity letterwinner and 3-year team captain at Edmond Memorial High School in Edmond, Okla. … guided her team to the 2007, 2009 and 2010 Oklahoma 6A State Championship … was a 2-time All-Edmond Player of the Year, All-City Player of the Year and MVP of the State Championship All-Tournament Team … twice named the Oklahoma Gatorade Player of the Year … voted High School All-American by PrepVolleyball.com … earned a spot on the 2009 USA Junior National Championship All-Tournament Team … was a candidate for PrepVolleyball National Junior of the Year and National Senior of the Year … named to the PrepVolleyball.com Class of 2011 Top 50 Recruits and 2011 Senior Ace… Volleyball Magazine ‘Fab 50’ … earned Best Setter Award in 2010 USA High Performance International Championship Tournament … selected to the 2010 Youth Olympic Team … was a 2010 Under Armour All-American.
