Russ Rose Then (1998): I think Carrie is an individual that has national team potential. She’s a very good first contact player. She’s able to hit from antenna to antenna well, and she goes off of one foot as well as she does off of two, in addition to being a very good blocker. I think Carrie making the NCAA All-Tournament team gave her a little more confidence on what it takes to be successful at the highest level. I believe that confidence plays a critical factor in the development of younger players. I think between your sophomore and junior year is when you have to make that step. You’re either going to step up and get it done, or you’re just going to stay at the level that you were at previously. But I think that Carrie has an extremely high upside and I expect great things from her this year.
Russ Rose Now (2025): Carrie was a great six-rotation player — a player who, like Bonnie Bremner and Lauren Cacciamani, was on the court all the time. She was an exceptional passer, an exceptional blocker, and a very strong attacker. She was playing right when people were starting to run the slide. Her club team, Dead Frog Volleyball Club, was the top team in Michigan, and she was really skilled. Carrie had played with Lauren and Bonnie for four years, so they were very comfortable playing together. Carrie was somebody that I could match up on the other team’s best attacker. She made great contributions and was a really valuable member of the team.
Before Penn State: An all-around athlete at Portage Central High School, Schonveld started for three seasons as the center on the basketball team, competed three years in the high jump, discus and shot put for the track team, and started all four seasons at outside hitter for the volleyball team; her list of honors is lengthy: four-year all-conference selection; three-year conference MVP; two-year All-State first team; one-year All-State second-team; two-time member of the Detroit Free Press Dream Team; the 1995 Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year and a Volleyball Monthly “Fab 50” selection; she led her volleyball, basketball and track teams to conference championships in her senior year and earned Portage Central’s Female Athlete of the Year award; Schonveld served as captain of the basketball team and set school season and career records for rebounding; she also claimed all-conference honors in the shot put and set school records in the high jump and discus; she also excelled in the classroom, earning the B’nai B’rith scholar-athlete award and the Optimist Club award.