What Her Teammates Said: “There’s no doubt our team feeds off of her intensity.” Bonnie Bremner, Penn State starting setter, The Collegian, December 8, 1997.

Russ Rose Then (1998): Christy’s game has experienced great growth in her four years here.  She was recognized by the conference coaches last year, as well as being named Player of the Week and earning a spot on each all-tournament team.  She clearly is the energetic battery of the team.  She needs to continue to do the things that she’s done to this point in time and not wear herself down.  She trains very hard physically and puts all the time in necessary to improve her technical skills, and goes out there and does what we ask her to do.  Christy could have easily garnered votes from the coaches on who the most valuable player was.  I think she does so many things well.  She plays hard all of the time, and whether she plays left side or right side.  I have great confidence that Christy’s going to come ready to play, and win or lose, she’s just a really fun person to be around.

Russ Rose Now (2025): Christy is one of the all-time great characters. And so much energy. She was undersized, but she was the center of the energy at times for the team.   She was always smiling and always mischievous. And she was a really great competitor.  At the 1997 National Championship match against Stanford, a ball hit her in the face and it dislodged an artificial tooth she had.  But she played the remainder of the match, even with the gap at the front of her mouth after the tooth was dislodged.  Great competitor and a really valuable member of the team.

Before Penn State: Cochran started all four years for the Bethlehem Catholic High School volleyball and basketball squads; an outside hitter and middle blocker, she was a three-time All-State selection; MVP of the Eastern Penn Conference and District II in 1993 and 1994; twice selected as the Express TImes Player of the Year as she led the Hawks to the state semifinal match in 1994 and the finals in 1991; the two-time team captain played  in the 1995 Mizuno All-Star game; a two-year starter for the Quickset Elite Volleyball Club team; Cochran was equally successful on the basketball court, earning all-conference and all-area accolades three times while guiding the Hawks to the state finals in 1991 and the semi-finals in 1993 and 1994; the National Merit Award Finalist led the league in rebounding and topped the 1,000 point plateau during her career as the squad captured four district titles and two conference  Championships.