Russ Rose Then (2007): “I thought Alisha did a solid job last season coming in and setting as a freshman. I was disappointed in the conference awards though, as it’s been a long time in the Big Ten Conference that the 5-1 setter for the team that won the league championship didn’t get recognized as an all-conference performer. She maybe flew under the radar screen because she wasn’t a trained setter when she came in, but I thought she made great strides. She’s as good a blocker as any setter in the country, and as she develops a better understanding of setting at the highest level and gains a better feel for the demands of the game, she’ll continue to excel. Leading a team is tough on a freshman and it takes years to develop the feel for this task, but I’m confident that we’ll see a better and more relaxed player this season.”
Russ Rose Now (2025): “Alisha led the nation as a high school player in service aces, and when she came in was our hardest attacker. Alisha was an athlete who could hit and played all positions when she was on her mom’s high school team. Her development as a setter was exceptional, and in my mind, was aided by Jessica Yanz, who was a highly skilled, trained setter, working with Alisha while the two of them were training together as freshmen and sophomores. Alisha won three national championships at Penn State, played on the national team, went to the Olympics, and played professionally in a number of countries. She was an assistant coach at Stanford for a little bit, and just recently accepted the head coaching job of the San Diego Mojo team in the MLV. Alisha’s had an incredible volleyball playing experience, and in all phases. And she is the mother of three daughters, so she’s setting the bar really high in a lot of areas, and continues to exceed all expectations.”
2007 Season (Sophomore) Highlights and Awards: 2007 National Champion … AVCA Second Team All-America … NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team … AVCA First Team All-Mideast Region … First Team All-Big Ten … Sports Imports/AVCA National and Big Ten Player of the Week (11/19) … started 35 of 36 matches and played in 114 of 122 games … directed the Penn State offense to a nation-leading .350 hitting percentage … in her first two years at the helm of the Penn State offense, the Nittany Lions attacked at a combined .336 clip with an average of 16.94 kills/set … had two attackers ranked in the top 5 in the nation in hitting percentage (Christa Harmotto, 2nd at .492; Arielle Wilson, 5th at .446).
Season Recap: Led the team and ranked fourth in the Big Ten and 24th in the country with an average of 13.02 assists/set … dished out 1,484 total assists, a mark that ties her for 10th on the single-season record list with Sam Tortorello in 2005 … ends her sophomore season with 2,897 career assists, good for sixth on the all-time career assists chart, while her career 12.76 assists/set average places her second all-time behind Sam Tortorello … recorded 60 or more assists on 5 occasions, including a career-high 69 in the 5-set loss to Stanford at the Yale Classic (9/15) … produced 91 kills for the season … had at least 1 kill in 32 matches … ranked 4th on the team in digs with 198 for an average of 1.74 digs/set … set a new personal best with 16 digs against Stanford (9/15) … had 5 double-digit dig matches … tallied 108 total blocks to rank 4th on the squad, the highest total by a non-middle attacker … recorded a career high 14 stuffs at Illinois (10/19), a mark that set a new 5-set rally-scoring-era record and fell just one block shy of the all-time five-set match record of 15 set by middle hitter Robyn Goukas at Michigan on Oct. 7, 2000 … had 26 multiple-block matches … also tallied 12 service aces.
NCAA Tournament: Had a season-high 7 kills on .400 hitting in the National Championship match against Stanford (12/15) … with her at setter, the Lions shattered the NCAA Tournament record for team hitting percentage (besting the previous mark of .369 set by the 1995 Long Beach State team), attacking at a combined .424 clip while averaging 16.75 kills/set through 6 matches.
Before Penn State: Four-year letterwinner at Leland (Mich.) High School … Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year … led her squad to the 2006 Class D state championship, producing a single-match record of 48 kills in the title match … named Miss Volleyball for the state of Michigan in 2006 … four-time first team all-state, all-region dream team and all-conference … is the National and State High School record holder in season aces (296), career aces (937) and career kills (3,584) … during scholastic career attacked at a .440 clip while also contributing 1,816 digs and 680 blocks … ranked sixth on PrepVolleyball.com’s ‘Senior Aces’ list … was a member of the 2005 US Youth National A2 Team and played on the USA Red squad that won the gold medal at the HP Championships in Austin, Texas, where she also received the ‘Best Setter’ award … started on the 2004 USA Youth National Team that won the gold medal in Puerto Rico at the NORCECA Games, where she was recognized as ‘Best Server’ … a complete athlete, was also named first team all-state as a basketball player as a junior and senior … was voted one of the top 25 players in the state by the Detroit Free Press … member of the National Honor Society with a 3.7 grade point average.