Bonnie Bremner

Bonnie Bremner

Career Highlights: Starting setter 1996 to 1999; All-American in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999; Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 1996; Big Ten Player of the Year in 1997; helped lead Penn State to its first NCAA championship in 1999;  career .377 hitting percentage, 780 kills, 5,911 assists, and 988 digs. 

Russ Rose Then (1999): I think Bonnie has established herself as the premier setter in the country over the last few years.  As she enters her last year, it will be an opportunity to improve on her leadership and enhance her strengths in that area.  She’s established herself as an offensive-minded setter and she’s been exceptional about distributing the ball.  But with three new starters on the floor, she’s going to have to demonstrate some intangibles that we really haven’t had to look at from Bonnie over the last couple of years.  It should be an interesting year to see how she develops in that area.  I’ve learned not to doubt Bonnie as she gets focused.

Russ Rose Now (2025): Bonnie is probably one of the great walk-ons of all time because I didn’t have any scholarships available for her first year, so she walked on.  She was at the top of alot of the recruiting lists of alot of coaches, and was looking at some of the top schools and programs.  I think she visited Texas and then us.  She was highly-skilled, a very bright individual — her academics would have gotten her into any any school in the country.  And she came from Sports Performance — a great club program — so we were very glad to have her.  She came in and just hit the ground running, and started for four years.  Great player and a great individual.

Before Penn State: A three-year starting setter out of St. Francis High School; named team captain her junior year, she led the Spartans to the Illinois State Championship; also earned All-America accolades three-consecutive years, from 1993 to 1995; an all conference selection, Bremner was voted team Most Valuable Player as a junior; as a member of the Sports Performance club team, one of the best junior programs in the country, she helped lead the squad to a silver medal in national competition; also a member of the USA Junior National Team.