Russ Rose Then (2018): “Nia is an incredibly physical player who needs to have the same confidence in her game that we have in her game, and hopefully, she’ll be the player that we can depend on. There’s never been a better opportunity for Nia to demonstrate that she’s ready to play. She’s always been playing behind All Americans, and with the departure of Simone and Ali, her chance to seize the position and make it her own is now.”
Russ Rose Now (2026): “Nia Reed is one of my favorite stories, because although she didn’t play a lot at the beginning of her career, and in today’s world could easily have just left and gone somewhere else where she would have played right away, she stayed at Penn State, worked incredibly hard, and became an All-American. Nia was clearly one of the most physical players that we ever had. Nobody could go through multiple practices in a day and still have the ability to go up and take a swing like Nia did. She had natural skills at the net. She could play left side, she could play right side. She was just one of those individuals that you could count on to make the big play when it was time. I had great confidence that when I put Nia in she would be able to have success, whether it was as an attacker or as a blocker. And her smile could light up Rec Hall. After Penn State, she had great success in Korea and Brazil — her impact was so obvious that the Olympic coach of Brazil called me and tried to get her to come to his professional team in Brazil. She spent time with USA Volleyball and the PVF, and is still playing professionally in Brazil. I’m a big fan.”
2018 Season (Redshirt Senior) Highlights and Awards: AVCA Honorable Mention All-America … AVCA All-Northeast Region … Penn State Classic All-Tournament Team.
Season Recap: played in 30 of 34 matches and 103 of 118 sets … finished 2018 with a team-best 3.26 kills/set, hitting .253 and scoring 385.0 points … totaled 0.74 blocks/set with a team-high 22 solo blocks … posted 56 digs … tallied 18 double-digit kills, including two career-high 20-kill performances, the first against Nebraska on October 13, and the second against Wisconsin on November 24.
NCAA Tournament: Appeared in all 4 of Penn State’s NCAA Tournament matches, averaging 3.31 kills/set.
Before Penn State: A 4-year starter at Immaculate Heart Academy … led her high school squad to 4 consecutive non-public state championship titles, picking up Bergen Record Player of the Year honors in 2012 and 2013 … earned Star Ledger Player of the Year accolades in 2011, 2012 and 2013 … earned Big North Conference All-State honors from 2010-13 … competed with the “Digs” club team …played on the USAV Girls’ Youth A2 team in 2012, serving as an alternate on the Youth National Team in 2013 … a 2013-14 Under Armour All-American … a Mizuno First Team All-American … 3-time New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year from 2011-13.
