Russ Rose Then (2006): “I thought at times last year that Christa was as good at the net as any player we’ve had during my tenure, both offensively and defensively. Her strengths are that she’s quick and powerful and works very hard to get herself in position to be a quality attacker. She is an extremely strong blocker in the air who wants to block every ball. So much of the success of the season will be dependent on how she recuperates from her knee injury, but she continues to make good progress, and I’m certainly optimistic that even if Christa isn’t at 100%, she’s agoing to be on the floor helping us in a vaariety of ways. The fact that she is one of the two captains of the team after her freshman season is a good indicatioin that she possesses valuable leadership skills that are important to this team.”
Russ Rose Now (2025): “Christa had an unbelievable career at Penn State and went on to be the captain of the Olympic team. She didn’t have as long of a professional career as she could have, because she got married and focused on her family and children. While she was at Penn State, every decision she made was a good decision for her and the team. I’ve told a story about a time I came in early one Sunday morning to go to go in my office, and I bumped into Christa. She’s dressed up all nice, and I’m like ‘What are you doing?’ And she says ‘I teach Sunday school.’ And I’m thinking “What more good things can you do?’ She was a player that led by example. She and Nic [Fawcett] never backed down from competition, and we had great success with them and others during the four-year stretch from 2007 to 2010. Christa is one of the players I coached who if I had to check a box for who I would want to coach for my entire career, she would be one of those individuals. She was committed to everyone and was one of the best players in the country at her position.”
2006 Season (Sophomore) Highlights and Awards: AVCA Second Team All-America … AVCA First Team All-Mideast Region … First Team All-Big Ten … Big Ten Player of the Week (10/2) … Penn State Classic All-Tournament Team … Penn State Invitational All-Tournament Team … LSU Classic All-Tournament Team … unanimous Preseason All-Big Ten … Academic All-Big Ten … her .405 hitting percentage mark placed her 2nd in the Big Ten and 10th in the nation and her 1.58 blocks/set average put her 2nd in the conference and 14th in the country.
Season Recap: Played in 34 of 35 matches of the year and 111 of 114 sets … ranked 1st on the team in blocks/set (1.58), 2nd on the squad in hitting percentage (.405) and 3rd on the team in kills/set (2.85) … average of 1.58 blocks/set tied for 10th on Penn State’s all-time single-season record list, equaling Terri Zemaitis’ 1997 mark … … had at least 3 kills in every match of the year, including 14 double-digit kill matches … set a new career best with 17 kills on .483 hitting at Minnesota (10/28) … garnered conference Player of the Week honors after averaging 4.83 kills/set on .650 hitting at Indiana and Purdue (9/29-30) … hit for a .500 percentage or better on 13 occasions, including attacking a career-best .812 (13-0-16) at Purdue (9/30) … posted at least 1 block in every match, including tying a career-best with 13 blocks versus Wisconsin (10/7) … notched at least 5 blocks in 18 matches … provided 11 service aces and 33 digs … tallied a career-high 2 aces 4 times, including at Illinois (10/15), versus Michigan (10/20), at Minnesota (10/28) and against Iowa (11/11) … racked up a personal-best 5 digs against the Gophers.
NCAA Tournament: Reached double-digit blocking numbers in the NCAA Second Round win over Hofstra (12/2) with 11 stuffs.
Before Penn State: Three-year volleyball letterwinner and two-year basketball letterwinner at Hopewell High School in Hopewell Township, Pa. … team captain for the Vikings in 2004 … Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year in 2004 … two-time Prep Volleyball High School All-American … 2004-2005 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Female High School Athlete of the Year … a member of the 2004 USA Women’s Junior National Team that won the NORCECA Championship in Winnipeg, Canada … also selected to the 2005 USA Junior National Team that competed in Ankara, Turkey, at the FIVB Under-20 World Championships … two-time Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Athlete of the Week … Mizuno First Team All-American following senior season, also picking up Beaver County Times, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Female Athlete of the Year accolades … two-time first team all-state, all-WPIAL and all-section … posted a scholastic team record of 75-4 through three years … recorded a school-record 186 blocks during junior season in 2003 … also posted a school-record .595 hitting percentage in senior year to go along with 448 kills, 376 digs and 172 blocks … led the team to a No. 1 ranking in the state of Pennsylvania and the 2004 section, WPIAL and state championships, winning every tournament entered prior to the postseason … also section and AA WPIAL champions in 2002 and 2003 … helped Hopewell to a 59-0 record against WPIAL opponents from 2001 to 2005 and a 103-match winning streak against section opponents … member of the Pittsburgh Renaissance Volleyball Club that qualified for the Junior Olympic Nationals in 2004 and 2005 … member of the National Honor Society … earned the KDKA Extra Effort Award … a four-year scholar athlete … named the Lions Club Student of the Month … was a member of the Principal’s Student Leadership Advisory Board.